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Adaptation Actions in a Changing Arctic

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By Thomas R. Armstrong, AACA, President, Madison River Group LLC, and Lars-Otto Reiersen, Executive Secretary, AMAP, and Robert W. Corell, Chair, ACIA, Principal, Global Environment Technology Foundation

The Arctic is a rapidly changing, multifaceted system that includes socio-economic and natural living and non-living resources in which both change and the rate of change are significantly increasing. It is one of the few systems on the planet where the consequences of human-induced climate change can be readily observed.

In order to combat and ameliorate impending changes, the focus of our collective efforts now must shift to enhancing resilience in both natural and human systems (ie, communities). While  developing and deploying a long-term plan for reducing carbon pollution to and from the atmosphere, in the short term we also need to prepare for and adapt to the inevitable impacts and effects of the one stressor that directly impacts all of the Arctic and also exacerbates the other stressors: climate change.

It is in the area of adaptation where a wide array of potential actions to combat climate change exist at all scales and at all levels of decision-making. Thus, the focus of the Arctic Council’s Adaptation Actions in a Changing Arctic (AACA) project is on identifying and assessing change drivers, including climate. AACA provides a robust, pan-Arctic set of more detailed regional scientific assessments focused on understanding the types and causes of related changes, their impacts and effects generated within or impacting the Arctic, as well as future projections, options  and scenarios aimed at understanding future changes. This scientific information, along with other forms of traditional and local knowledge, is then integrated into a more comprehensive knowledge base that is of use to a multitude of decision-makers. This knowledge base is used
by decision-makers at all scales for supporting present and future adaptation actions. It is these actions that will promote increased resilience, health and welfare of the the Arctic and its diverse and vital communities as well as its living and non-living resources.

Ultimately, AACA will also include adaptive management components, communication and education elements, and various forms of decision support. These will allow decision performance evaluation, educational and social outreach and more effective decision-making in a sustained manner, within and across all of the Arctic’s communities that are already or will be affected by impending forms of change.

Table of Contents

  1. Letter from the President

    By Lars Kullerud

  2. Arctic Parliamentarians: Finding Solutions to Climate Challenges

    By Katri Kulmuni

  3. Tourism Safety Is Improved Together

    By Niko Niemisalo

  4. People Coming and Going: The North as a Place of Migration

    By Hanna Snellman and Gertrude Saxinger

  5. International Security MBA – Tailored Safety and Security

    By Jarmo Heinonen

  6. Growth from the North: Education and Competence as Key Input Factors

    By Anne Husebekk

  7. Human Security in the Arctic: Socioemotional Problems as Risks

    By Anna Reetta Rönkä

  8. The Eight Ujarait (Rocks) Model: Supporting Inuit Adolescent Mental Health

    By Gwen Healey and Ceporah Mearns

  9. UArctic Annual Report for 2015

  10. Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries in the Russian Arctic and Beyond

    By Aytalina Ivanova and Florian Stammler

  11. Food and Water Security in the Arctic

    By Arja Rautio and David Natcher

  12. Safety in the Arctic: Insurer’s Point of View

    By Gard AS

  13. Maritime Emergency Preparedness and International Cooperation in the Arctic

    By Odd Jarl Borch

  14. Synoptic Arctic Survey

    By Øyvind Paasche, Are Olsen, and Leif G. Anderson

  15. Northern Ties

    By Leslie Earle

  16. Development and Establishment of a Competency Centre for Arctic Field Safety

    By Hanne Christiansen

  17. Re-engaging Canada in the Circumpolar World

    By Joël Plouffe

  18. Defence Cooperation Must Be Strengthened in the Nordics and in the Arctic

    By Nicolai Stampe Qvistgaard

  19. Student Profiles

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