14-15 May 2013 the Swedish chairmanship of the Arctic Council ends with a ministerial meeting in Kiruna in Arctic Sweden. The Mistra Arctic Futures in a Global Context programme consists of many experts from the social science and humanities and together they cover all current Arctic issues within their fields. Do you have questions on Arctic national or international politics and policy, development of Arctic companies and societies, adaptation to climate change or the monetary value of natural resources? Don’t hesitate to contact any of the experts on our list. If they cannot answer you, they know someone who can.
New folder: The Art of Shaping an Arctic Future
april 22nd, 2013 | Posted by in News | Publication - (Kommentering avstängd)
Humanity faces massive change. Within a few generations, the earth’s climate will have grown significantly warmer, and the economic, political and military maps may be radically redrawn. The consequences are expected to be transformative, especially in one of the world’s most sensitive regions – the Arctic. For just over two years, five teams working under the aegis of the cross-disciplinary Mistra Arctic Futures in a Global Context research initiative have wrestled with this central question: How do you create a sustainable future in a part of the world which, while usually perceived as an empty, icy vastness, is home to millions of people, vast resources and mighty natural forces that may affect the future of all humanity?
This folder highlights the goal and expertise of the programme, and also visualizes the connections between the projects. It is a slightly shortened offprint from a group interview in the 2012 annual report by science journalist Kristoffer Gunnartz.
Films from Crisis Management in the Maritime Arctic seminar
april 9th, 2013 | Posted by in News - (Kommentering avstängd)The Stockholm Arctic Seminar ”Crisis Management in the Maritime Arctic” on 22 March 2013 at Swedish National Defence College was well attended and filmed. If you missed it , here’s your chance.
Part 1 with speakers Gustaf Lind (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Ulf Hedman (Swedish Polar Research Secretariat), Åke Rohlén (Arctic Marine Solutions)
Part 2 with speakers Bengt Sundelius (MSB Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency), Sølve Tanke Hovden (Norwegian Coast Guard and Rescue Services) and Ole Kristian Bjerkemo (Chairman of the Emergency Prevention Preparedness and Response working group of the Arctic Council)
Download the seminar flyer Crisis Management in the Maritime Arctic for more information.
White paper on Arctic stakeholders
april 2nd, 2013 | Posted by in News | Publication - (Kommentering avstängd)The five projects of the Mistra Arctic Futures in a Global Context programme has submitted a joint white paper, entitled Stakeholder integration: a response to a suggested focus on Arctic residents and monitoring to the forthcoming Arctic Observing Summit 30 April-2 May in Vancouver, Canada.
This paper outlines the diversity of stakeholders that may hold an interest in or be relevant in relation to observation systems, on multiple levels, and thereby attempts to outline the variety in potential groups. While the paper takes local and regional examples mainly from European cases, many of the considerations with relation to diversity will be relevant also in other regions (where also the differences between stakeholder groups such as local and indigenous can potentially be larger). The focus of the paper has been formed largely by the orientations of the Swedish Mistra Arctic Futures programme, and include a broad range of considerations ranging from military and international to local level.
Stakeholder integration on as wide and varying an area as the Arctic, on the topic of monitoring, will include almost all land uses – and uses of sea and sea ice – and the very varying stakeholders in these.
The paper will be presented by Suzanne de la Barre from the project From Resource Hinterland to Global Pleasure Periphery? Time and date are not yet decided.
The AOS is led by the International Study of Arctic Change (ISAC). It is a Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) task and part of the broader SAON implementation process, which is led by the Arctic Council jointly with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Organizing partners include the United States interagency Study of Environmental Arctic Change Program (SEARCH), the ArcticNet Network of Centres of Excellence Canada (ArcticNet), the European Union Arctic Climate Change Economy and Society project (ACCESS), the International Arctic Research Center (IARC), the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) and International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (EU-INTERACT). Together these groups engage a wide range of national, institutional and research communities to help organize the AOS.
Mistra Arctic Futures year report 2012
mars 19th, 2013 | Posted by in News | Publication - (Kommentering avstängd)
The Mistra Arctic Futures programme’s year report for 2012 is now available, online or in print. In it you’ll find:
- - introduction by Chairman of the Board and Programme Director,
- - an initiated and accessible text about the programme and the projects by awarded science journalist Kristoffer Gunnartz,
- - short reports about the project’s insights and progress in 2012 and plans for 2013,
- - an extensive publication list,
- - economic reporting.
Download here or order it by e-mailing your postal adress to sofia.rickberg@polar.se.
Films from the Stockholm Arctic Seminar ”Asian Arctic expansion?”
mars 5th, 2013 | Posted by in News - (Kommentering avstängd)The Stockholm Arctic seminar ”Asian Arctic expansion? Non-Arctic states and the Arctic Council” on 19 February 2013 at Royal Institute of Technology/KTH was well attended and webstreamed. If you didn’t catch it in real life or online, here’s your chance.
Download the seminar flyer: Asian Arctic Expansion seminar for more information.
Observers at the Arctic Council Piotr Graczyk, University of Tromsø, Norway
China’s Arctic Ambitions – actors, drivers and strategies? Karl Hallding, Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden
Japan’s Arctic policy: The sum of many parts Aki Tonami, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
The Maritime Tiger: Exploring South Korea’s Interests and Role Mia Bennett, University of Cambridge, UK
Arctic Panel Discussion, moderated by Eric Paglia, KTH/Swedish National Defence College
Stockholm Arctic Seminars is hosted by the Mistra Arctic Futures project Assessing Arctic Futures: Voices, resources and governance.
Swedish Polar Research Secretariat is hosting the research programme Mistra Arctic Futures in a Global Context during the programme period (2011-2013).
We are now open for discussion about being a co-applicant to the Mistra Arctic Sustainable Development (planned programme period 2014-2017) call and thus be responsible for some of the programme activities. The application should be formulated around a partnership in which the Secretariat’s networks and skills can be used in the best possible way to promote Swedish polar research.
What role for environmental policy in a changing Arctic?
februari 1st, 2013 | Posted by in News - (Kommentering avstängd)Mistra Arctic Futures researcher Annika E. Nilsson is this week’s guest writer on the blog of the Swedish Ministry of Environment. She develops her views about the rapid changes in the region and the demands for environmental policy and leadership across boundaries in the Arctic. The text relates to the upcoming Arctic Council environmental minister meeting in Jukkasjärvi 5-6 February 2013.
To be sure, ice, water, weather and winds play an important role for everyone who lives and works in the Arctic region, but the future is instead created by actors with different interests and varying degrees of power. Today’s media and political discussion about the Arctic region is a part of the game. What role should environment policy play in this context? Is there a role that extends beyond defining limits? A role that sets the agenda?
Annika E. Nilsson is a senior research fellow at SEI, Stockholm Environment Institute and part of the Assessing Arctic Futures project within the Mistra Arctic Futures programme.
Mistra Arctic Futures at Arctic Frontiers
januari 25th, 2013 | Posted by in News - (Kommentering avstängd)Mistra Arctic Futures was well represented at the Arctic Frontiers Conference in Tromsø, Norway, 21-25 January 2013.
Lizé-Marie van der Watt from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden and the project Assessing Arctic Futures presented her work on ”Polar science organizations and security at the end of the Cold War”.
Kristofer Bergh and Ekaterina Klimenko from SIPRI and the project Arctic Futures presented their work on ”What role for the military in a changing Arctic?” and ”Russian Policy in the Arctic: strategic importance, ambitious plans and domestic constraints”, respectively.
Dieter Müller in Swedish TV4 Vetenskap
november 26th, 2012 | Posted by in News - (Kommentering avstängd)Dieter Müller, project leader of From Resource Hinterland to Global Pleasure Periphery? and professor at Umeå University was portrayed in the Swedish television programme ”TV4 Vetenskap” on 26 September 2012.
Müller is interviewed about his work in Granö, Västerbotten, one of the places where he and his research team do field work with tourism entrepreneurs: http://www.tv4play.se/program/vetenskap?video_id=2223381
The interview starts 16 minutes into the programme (in Swedish).