Blog

The Arctic is changing. The region’s sea ice has reached a tipping point. Climate change is faster and more severe in the Arctic. Arctic Peoples are the first indigenous peoples affected by climate change. This is more or less what you can find in the current scientific literature. This is also what is unfortunately happening in front of our eyes, and more especially in front of their eyes, the peoples living up there. For many reasons, indeed, the situation in the Arctic is worrying. But it is not without hope.

Climate change has important socio-political implications as the melting ice ignites new debates over territorial sovereignty of Arctic coastal states and poses new jurisdictional problems over maritime navigation. This allows states to put forward their claims to underwater resources that become increasingly accessible as the ice recedes. Jurisdictional problems arise when competition over resources causes what used to be internal waters of one particular state to be referred as international waters by other actors.

At the most recent meeting of the Polar Research Board, Julia Gourley, the U.S. Senior Arctic Official, represented the U.S. Department of State in order to brief the panel of Arctic experts on the intentions of the U.S. Arctic Council Chairmanship. Gourley began by emphasizing that the two-year U.S. Chairmanship will focus on long-term projects that have not yet been tackled in the international council of Arctic countries. This means that the U.S.

Yesterday we launched the 2015 Arctic Summer College, an eight-week program bringing together emerging leaders and Arctic experts from all over the world.  We were pleased to welcome an outstanding group of new Fellows to our program, who bring with them a diverse range of interests, expertise, and nationalities, but share a common interest in and passion for learning more about the Arctic region.