Feature Interview: What questions should we be asking about the Arctic’s future?
Arctic oil spill response made headlines last week with a new report from the National Research Council in the United States.
This week, another report (see links below) focused on key areas that need attention as climate change reshapes the environment of the circumpolar North.
Titled The Arctic in the Anthropocene: Emerging Research Questions, the most recent report looked at everything from what will be irretrievably lost with the transformation of the world’s polar regions, to whether Arctic communities will have greater or lesser influence on their futures and the role social media might play.
Both reports have raised important questions about how Arctic policy should evolve as economic and commercial activity in the region increase.
To find out more about the reports and the role of circumpolar countries like Canada in future research, Eye on the Arctic’s Eilís Quinn spoke to Fran Ulmer,chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission:
Links to reports:
Responding to Oil Spills in the U.S. Arctic Marine Environment (2014)
The Arctic in the Anthropocene: Emerging Research Questions (2014)
VIDEO – Anthropologist Lene Kielsen Holm, an Inuk (Inuit) from Greenland, talks about the importance of sea ice in Inuit culture and the effect climate change is having on the traditional way of life in the Arctic:
Related stories from around the Arctic:
Canada: The effects of climate change on human health in the North, Radio Canada International
Finland: Climate change affecting Finland’s Arctic hares, Yle News
Greenland: Greenland’s northeastern ice sheet starting to melt, Eye on the Arctic
Iceland: Eco-group questions Iceland oil, Deutsche Welle’s Ice-Blog
Norway: Norway focuses on “Humans in the Arctic,” Deutsche Welle’s Ice-Blog
Russia: Melting permafrost eroding Siberian coasts, Deutsche Welle Ice-Blog
Sweden: How should Swedes adapt to climate change?, Radio Sweden
United States: Climate-change relocation of Alaska village stops, after state audit finds potential wrongdoing, Alaska Dispatch
