Arctic Sustainability Research: Toward a New Agenda

Author(s)

Andrey N. Petrov, Shauna BurnSilver, F. Stuart Chapin III, Gail Fondahl, Jessica Graybill, Kathrin Keil, Annika E. Nilsson, Rudolf Riedlsperger, Peter Schweitzer

Abstract

The Arctic is among the world's regions most affected by ongoing and increasing cultural, socio-economic, environmental and climatic changes. Over the last two decades, scholars, policymakers, extractive industries, local, regional and national governments, intergovernmental forums, and non-governmental organizations have turned their attention to the Arctic, its peoples and resources, and to challenges and benefits of impending transformations. The International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP) has now transpired three times, most recently in April 2015 with ICARP III. Arctic sustainability is an issue of increasing concern within the Arctic and beyond it, including in ICARP endeavors. This paper reports some of the key findings of a white paper prepared by an international and interdisciplinary team as part of the ICARP-III process, with support from the International Arctic Science Committee Social and Human Sciences Working Group, the International Arctic Social Sciences Association and the Arctic-FROST research coordination network. Input was solicited through sharing the initial draft with a broader network of researchers, including discussion and feedback at several academic and community venues. This paper presents a progress report on Arctic sustainability research, identifies related knowledge gaps and provides recommendations for prioritizing research for the next decade.

Organisation(s)

Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

External organisation(s)

University of Northern Iowa, Arizona State University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of British Columbia (UBC), Colgate University, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Stockholm Environment Institute

Journal

Polar Geography

Volume

39

Pages

165-178

No. of pages

14

ISSN

1088-937X

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2016.1217095

Publication date

2016

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

504017 Cultural anthropology

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Geography, Planning and Development, General Earth and Planetary Sciences

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/5dc50e0d-6d1a-446d-988f-63046d069cc5