Title

Whither the Arctic Ocean?: Research, Knowledge Needs, and Development en Route to the New Arctic. Chapter 3:Complex Collaboration Tools for a Sustainable New Arctic

Document Type

Book

Publication Date

Spring 3-2021

Abstract

About the Book: Whither the Arctic Ocean?: Research, Knowledge Needs, and Development en Route to the New Arctic. Climate change in the Arctic Ocean (AO) has stirred a remarkable surge of interest and concerns, including among non-Arctic states, non-state actors and the general public. Lack of long-term scientific observations makes it difficult to assess whether Arctic changes statistically represent a new climate, but extremes have become routine in what most consider as an emerging “new Arctic” (e.g., Landrum and Holland 2020). In light of this, the present volume brings together the personal viewpoints, impressions and suggestions of a range of Arctic researchers with a multi- and transdisciplinary background. The authors come from the entire expanse of the pan-Arctic region, which is by far the world’s most climatically impacted. Their experience derives from a wide scope of endeavors: politics, management, industry and the entire range of basic humanistic and natural science research. What the authors have in common is their work in and for the Arctic and their awareness regarding the multi- and transdisciplinary nature of the drive to understand and manage climate change. “Whither are we bound?” would be a typical phrase in older English that covers the essence of the authors’ concerns. Attempting to answer this demanding question is the ultimate goal of this volume. As with all complex systems, there is not one answer, but several that embrace uncertainty and skepticism.

About Chapter Three: "Complex Collaboration Tools for a Sustainable New Arctic." The rapid and extreme changes in Arctic Ocean and other environments create an urgent need to muster the knowledge and skills of scientists,Indigenous experts, and policy makers to collaborate toward a sustainable socioecological system in the Arctic. How, exactly, to engineer a successful collaboration of such diverse parties is not obvious. We propose, however, that a sustainable Arctic will depend as much on such an intricate collaboration as on effective observing systems and climate models. This chapter will, therefore, explore the need and potential for tools to facilitate such a grand collaboration.

Comments

Dr. Brendan Kelly is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Blue Economy, as well as a Professor at the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks and Executive Director of the Study of Environmental Arctic Change. He co-authored chapter three in Whither the Arctic Ocean? Research, Knowledge Needs, and Development en Route to the New Arctic, along with Middlebury Institute alumna Andrea Fisher, now Research Associate with the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Study of Environmental Arctic Change. Editor: Paul Wassmann, published by BBVA Foundation, chapter three found on page 43.

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