Undermining subsistence: Barren-ground caribou in a "tragedy of open access".

Sustaining arctic/subarctic ecosystems and the livelihoods of northern Indigenous peoples is an immense challenge amid increasing resource development. The paper describes a "tragedy of open access" occurring in Canada's north as governments open up new areas of sensitive barren-ground caribou habitat to mineral resource development. Once numbering in the millions, barren-ground caribou populations () have declined over 70% in northern Canada over the last two decades in a cycle well understood by northern Indigenous peoples and scientists.