The Arctic is changing.

The region is warming faster than any other place on Earth, with serious consequences for local communities and the planet. Unprecedented heat waves, wildfires, permafrost thaw, and shrinking ice coverage are transforming delicate ecosystems and endangering wildlife. The homes, cultures, and subsistence livelihoods of the region’s Indigenous peoples, who have contributed essentially nothing to the emissions driving global climate change, are now at existential risk from its impacts.

What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic. The rapid pace of Arctic climate change is accelerating warming worldwide and threatens to undermine society’s ability to limit global temperature rise at a level that avoids wholly unmanageable consequences. Arctic sea ice retreat, too, is opening up new maritime routes and easing access to natural resources, leading to increased international attention on potential economic opportunities and security concerns in the region.

Launched in 2017, the Belfer Center’s Arctic Initiative addresses the challenges and opportunities being created by rapid climate change in the far North. By integrating insights from cutting-edge scientific research, Indigenous knowledge, and policy analysis, we seek to 1) improve understanding of the regional and global impacts of Arctic climate change; 2) work with local, regional, national, and international stakeholders to develop responsive policies and actions; and 3) train the next generation of interdisciplinary Arctic experts and leaders.

The Arctic Initiative is a joint project of the Environment and Natural Resources Program and the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the Belfer Center.


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2022-2023 Year in Review

The Arctic Initiative's annual Year In Review highlights notable activities, organized by our five focus areas, undertaken by our faculty, fellows, students, and staff throughout the academic year.

Highlights in the 2022-2023 edition include efforts by our team to chart a course for working-level cooperation in the Arctic after the invasion of Ukraine, to advise U.S. federal agencies on responses to permafrost thaw in Alaska, to draw lessons from the Arctic experience with COVID-19, and to help train the next generation of Arctic experts through programs like the Arctic Innovation Lab and workshops for Indigenous youth leaders.

Past Editions (PDF): 2021-20222020-20212019-2020 | 2018-2019 | 2017-2018


Sponsors

Funding for the work of the Arctic Initiative comes from Schmidt Futures, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. 

The Arctic Initiative is committed to building a group of staff, faculty, fellows, and student researchers that reflects the full diversity of the Arctic region. We endeavor to honor local and Indigenous knowledge by co-creating our research and educational programs with Arctic residents. 

International Advisory Board

Composed of leading Arctic scholars and policymakers, the Arctic Initiative’s International Advisory Board informs the Initiative’s research and provides a critical eye as to how the Initiative can have the greatest impact. Board members help grow the Initiative’s local and global networks, advise on trends in the Arctic, provide strategic guidance, and engage in priority projects across the Initiative’s research areas. Board members also participate in seminars, events, and other student-facing programs connected to the educational component of the Initiative's work at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Current Members

  • Tarja Halonen

    Tarja Halonen served as President of the Republic of Finland from 2000-2012. She was elected to the Parliament in 1979 and served five terms before assuming the office of the President in 2000, becoming Finland's first female head of state. During her presidency, she was Co-Chair of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders, and Co-Chair of the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability. She is Chair of the Board of the University of Helsinki and continues to work closely with the UN.

  • Riikka Karppinen

    Riikka Karppinen is a prominent youth leader, environmental activist, and politician from Finnish Lapland. In 2012, Karppinen was elected to the municipal council of Sodankylä, Finland, and has since served three terms, becoming Chairperson in 2021. From 2019 to 2021, Karppinen served as Vice President of Finland’s Green Party. She is also a Member of the Board of the Arctic Society of Finland and the Regional Council of Lapland, the governing body responsible for regional planning and development. In addition to her political career, Karppinen studies Finnish language and literature at the University of Helsinki and works as political assistant for the Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and the Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen.

  • Sara Olsvig

    Sara Olsvig is the International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), the Indigenous Peoples’ Organization that represents approximately 180,000 Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka. She has over a decade of leadership in promoting Indigenous peoples’ rights and interests, protection of the Arctic environment, and sustainable development in regional and international fora such as the Arctic Council and the United Nations. Olsvig served as a member of the Parliament of Denmark from 2011 to 2015 and the Parliament of Greenland from 2013 to 2018. She led the political party Inuit Ataqatigiit from 2014 to 2018. She was Vice Premier and Minister of Social Affairs, Families, Gender Equality and Justice in the Government of Greenland from 2016 to 2018. Olsvig has actively contributed to the work of the Constitutional Commission of Greenland, as well as the Human Rights Council of Greenland. She holds a MSc in Anthropology from the University of Copenhagen, and is a doctoral candidate at Ilisimatusarfik, the University of Greenland.

  • Evon Peter

    Evon Peter is Neetsaii Gwich'in and Koyukon from Vashrąįį K'ǫǫ (Arctic Village), Alaska. An advocate for Indigenous knowledge, languages, and rights, he is a senior research scientist at the Center for Alaska Native Health Research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and previously served as UAF's former Vice Chancellor for Rural, Community, and Native Education. He serves on the boards for the Gwich'in Council International and the University of the Arctic.

  • Gunn-Britt Retter

    Gunn-Britt Retter was born and raised in the coastal Saami community Unjárga-Nesseby by Varangerfjord in the north-eastern Norway. She is a teacher of training from Sámi University College (Guovdageaidnu - Kautokeino, Norway) and holds an MA in Bilingual studies from University of Wales. Since 2001, Retter has worked with Arctic Environmental issues, first at Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat (IPS) (Copenhagen, Denmark) and since 2005 in the present position as Head of Arctic and Environmental Unit of the Saami Council. Gunn-Britt has served as a board member of the Sámi University of Applied Sciences (2011-2019) and has served as Member of Saami Parliament (Norway) for two terms (2005 – 2013). In her position as head of the Arctic and Environmental Unit in the Saami Council, Retter has been involved in issues related to Indigenous peoples and Indigenous knowledge related to climate change, biodiversity, language, pollution and management of natural resources.

  • Alice Rogoff

    Alice Rogoff is publisher and owner of ArcticToday. Rogoff is also the founder of Arctic Imperative, a lecture series dedicated to raising awareness of circumpolar north issues. She is the former publisher and owner of Alaska Dispatch and the co-founder of several other organizations, including the Alaska Native Arts Foundation. She previously served at The Washington Post as assistant to publisher Donald Graham, and she was the creator of The Washington Post's National Weekly edition.

Harvard Kennedy School students at the 2018 Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland

In 2018, 24 Harvard Kennedy School students traveled to the Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland to participate in the Arctic Innovation Lab.

The Arctic Initiative is committed to helping train the next generation of interdisciplinary, solutions-oriented Arctic leaders. Each semester, we host a variety of seminars, workshops, study groups, and other events, giving students the opportunity to hear from and work with Arctic experts from around the world.


Watch the course trailer.

IGA 671M: Policy and Social Innovation for the Changing Arctic

The first Harvard course to focus on the Arctic, “Policy and Social Innovation for the Changing Arctic” emphasizes creative thinking about solutions to pressing Arctic issues. The course is taught by Arctic Initiative Co-Founder Halla Logadóttir and supported by Co-Director John Holdren and Senior Fellow Cristine Russell. Students are individually mentored by senior Arctic experts as they research a policy area of concern and develop their own innovative and interdisciplinary solutions. Op-eds written by students about their ideas are regularly published in Arctic Today, and the top students travel to the annual Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik to pitch their ideas in the Arctic Innovation Lab (see below). 


2018 Innovation Lab in Reykjavik, Iceland

Harvard graduate students lead round-table discussions during the 2018 Arctic Innovation Lab in Reykjavík, Iceland.

The Arctic Innovation Lab

The Arctic Innovation Lab gives students from around the world the opportunity to pitch their solutions to challenges facing a changing Arctic. Founded by Arctic Initiative Co-Founder and Senior Fellow Halla Hrund Logadóttir, the event aims to train creative young scholars to approach challenges in the region and elsewhere with a solutions-focused mindset, while also facilitating dialogue with experienced practitioners to accelerate knowledge transition.

Since the first Innovation Lab in 2014, close to 1,000 people from over 30 countries have participated, including students from Harvard University, Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the University of Iceland, Reykjavík University, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Aalborg University in Denmark, and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Participating students have just two minutes to convince a diverse audience and panel of judges that their idea can promote a sustainable, prosperous, and environmentally sound future for the Arctic. They then have an opportunity to further workshop their ideas during lively roundtable discussions with audience members.

Previous HKS student participants Allison Agsten and Ulla Hemminki-Reijonen received funding to develop their Innovation Lab ideas into research papers (see “Reforming the Arctic Narrative: Indigenous Storytelling, Journalism, and the Potential of Co-Production in the North” and “Reinventing Climate Change Education”).



Click for a short preview of a past student-created StoryMap

Arctic Data Stories Workshop

Since 2021, the Arctic Data Stories Workshop has offered a fun, low-stakes environment for students with non-technical backgrounds to explore the interaction between geospatial data and policy. Over the course of several weeks, students gain literacy in ArcGIS software and learn about climate science, data management, and mapping from experts at the Arctic Initiative, Woodwell Climate Research Center, and Esri. Students work in small groups to produce StoryMaps, web-based narratives that contextualize geography, that address specific Arctic policy questions.


Northern Lights: An Arctic Initiative Student Podcast

Northern Lights showcases stories from and about the Arctic, as told by students from Harvard Kennedy School and around the world. The project was produced by former Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr. Sarah Mackie. Since its launch in March 2021, the podcast has featured an eclectic mix of stories, covering subjects such as the use of prawn byproduct in medicine, healing from domestic violence among Alaskan Indigenous women, and the impacts of COVID-19 on Arctic tourism. Throughout, the series has centered the voices of Indigenous people, bringing listeners stories which celebrate the Arctic’s vibrancy.


Student Research Assistants

Each semester, the Arctic Initiative works with a team of nearly a dozen students from across Harvard Kennedy School. All open roles are posted here.

  • Current Research Assistants

    • Christine Zhao
    • Hannah Chenok
    • Tara Bassi
    • Stirling Haig
    • Nate Graham

A riverbank collapses due to melting permafrost on lower Birch Creek Wild and Scenic River near Medicine Lake

A riverbank collapses due to melting permafrost on lower Birch Creek Wild and Scenic River near Medicine Lake. (Credit: Craig McCaa/Bureau of Land Management Alaska)

Permafrost thaw is a critical hazard for both Arctic residents and everyone on the planet. 

Globally, greenhouse gas emissions from permafrost thaw will accelerate warming, requiring much greater reductions in human emissions to stabilize the Earth's temperature. However, these emissions are currently not being accounted for in climate policy.

Locally, permafrost thaw results in erosion and subsidence, causing buildings to crack, roads to collapse, and pipelines to fail. For Arctic residents whose homes, livelihoods, and traditional ways of life are threatened, there are no adequate strategies or resources to facilitate adaptation.

Since 2019, the Arctic Initiative has collaborated with Woodwell Climate Research Center and ESRI to elevate the topic of permafrost thaw and increase awareness and action among policy makers. We are working with decision makers to integrate the cutting-edge science produced by Woodwell and ESRI into more robust policy and programs for mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.


Permafrost Pathways

Arctic Initiative team members discuss the Permafrost Pathways project.

In April 2022, the Arctic Initiative, in collaboration with Woodwell Climate Research Center and the Alaska Institute for Justice, launched Permafrost Pathways: Connecting Science, People, and Policy for Arctic Justice and Global Climate. A multipronged $41 million initiative catalyzed through the The Audacious Project, the Pathways project will bring together leading experts in climate science, policy action, and environmental justice to inform and develop adaptation and mitigation strategies that address the local and global impacts of Arctic permafrost thaw.

Permafrost Pathways will focus on three connected efforts:

  • Coordinate a pan-Arctic monitoring network and modeling initiative that will fill critical data gaps and improve the ability to track and forecast permafrost thaw and resulting carbon emissions.
  • Incorporate permafrost emissions into climate mitigation policy and engage with policy makers to promote understanding of the risks and human impacts of permafrost thaw and increase climate ambition accordingly.
  • Work with Arctic residents to co-develop just and equitable adaptation strategies in communities imminently threatened by permafrost thaw.

Featured Insights & Analysis

Arctic Governance, Cooperation, and Diplomacy

The war in Ukraine has dramatically changed the dynamics of governance in the Arctic. Though necessary, the pause of Arctic Council activities has the potential to stall years of scientific and policy collaboration in the Arctic and demands a renewed focus on finding ways to collaborate on critical issues facing the region.

The Arctic Initiative is committed to building avenues for continued progress on projects related to community resilience, environmental protection, and sustainable development. Through dialogues, convenings, and joint research, we are helping to maintain Arctic cooperation during uncertain diplomatic times and to develop new governance solutions.


Biden Administration Arctic Policy

Following the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the Arctic Initiative prepared—and provided to the White House—recommendations for the Biden administration’s Arctic agenda, including calls to reinstate the Arctic Executive Steering Committee and the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area. Initiative senior staff remain in frequent contact with key Arctic officials in the White House and the State Department.

Related Op-Eds

A Strategic Plan for the Arctic Council report cover

A Strategic Plan for the Arctic Council

The failure of the Arctic Council to reach agreement on a Ministerial Declaration at Rovaniemi in 2019—the first such failure since its creation in 1996— raised serious questions about the Council’s ability to continue to play a constructive role in helping to keep the Arctic Region peaceful despite growing geopolitical tensions among the Arctic states.

In June 2019, Senior Fellow Fran Ulmer and Ambassador David Balton, Senior Fellow of the Polar Institute at the Wilson Center, co-authored a major report entitled A Strategic Plan for the Arctic Council: Recommendations for Moving Ahead. The report provides recommendations for how the Arctic Council can continue to be a forum for promoting cooperation in the Arctic.


Featured Insights & Analysis

Arctic Resilience, Infrastructure, and Public Health 

The speed at which the Arctic region is changing—primarily due to climate change—is making adaptation extremely challenging. The Arctic Initiative is exploring ways to strengthen Arctic communities’ ability to not just bounce back from stresses and shocks, but to bounce forward, and to learn from and improve with every challenge. 


The Arctic Resilience Forum

Watch highlights from the 2020 Arctic Resilience Forum.

In 2020, the Arctic Initiative partnered with the Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) of the Arctic Council and the Council’s Icelandic Chairmanship to organize the Arctic Resilience Forum 2020 (ARF2020), an event dedicated to taking stock of progress, identifying crucial gaps, and building on the successes of the Arctic Resilience Action Framework (ARAF). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was adapted into a novel series of virtual events held over the course of ten weeks.

Each session addressed a thematic area of concern and included speakers and participants from around the Arctic region. Topics included Indigenous youth leadership, food security, gender issues, renewable energy, human health and pandemics, socioecological systems, broadband connectivity, infrastructure, finance, and Indigenous knowledge. ARF2020 drew nearly 1,500 participants from thirty-nine countries and featured eighty-five speakers from every Arctic state. 

Together with the SDWG, the Arctic Initiative co-authored the Arctic Resilience Forum 2020 Report, which was published by the Arctic Council Secretariat and delivered to Senior Arctic Officials. The report highlighted key findings from each session and proposed a series of next steps to build on the momentum of ARF2020.


Siamit: An Academic-Tribal Health Partnership

Maniilaq Association health clinic in Selawik, Alaska

A Maniilaq Association health clinic in Selawik, Alaska (Credit: Lucas Trout). 

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the health and wellbeing of Arctic residents posed unique challenges due to the region’s extreme geographic remoteness, health professional shortages, and lack of cultural and community knowledge among non-Indigenous and itinerant care providers. To address these issues, members of the Arctic Initiative team are learning from and contributing expertise to community care in remote Alaska Native villages.

In collaboration with Maniilaq Association and Harvard Medical School, Dr. N. Stuart Harris, Arctic Initiative Faculty Affiliate and Chief of the Massachusetts General Hospital Division of Wilderness Medicine, helps lead clinical, research, and educational efforts serving twelve tribes located in a majority-Iñupiat area of northwest Alaska. The partnership, called Siamit (Iñupiaq for “seed”), addresses health care needs in rural Alaska through physician staffing, clinical education, quality-improvement initiatives, and increased resilience thorough disaster planning and implementation. In May 2021, Siamit published a report in Academic Medicine that details the partnership model developed by the teams at Harvard, MGH, and Maniilaq Association.


Arctic Wetlands Ecosystems: Resilience through Restoration & Stewardship

The Arctic Initiative has been awarded funding from the National Science Foundation as part of a Belmont Forum grant to support wetlands protection and restoration in the Arctic—an issue that links ecosystems, infrastructure, and public health. Our team’s focus is on identifying private and public finance opportunities and developing private-financing models for addressing top-priority wetland stewardship issues in rural areas. In collaboration with local Indigenous leaders, we are studying the challenges surrounding wastewater infrastructure in the Bering Strait region of Alaska. Deficiencies in water and sanitation management not only pollute wetlands but also pose significant health risks to communities forced to live with poor wastewater infrastructure. This research is ongoing and will ultimately create a model for private-sector investment in locally driven Arctic infrastructure projects.


Featured Insights & Analysis

Policy and Action on Plastic in the Arctic Ocean

Listen to members of the Arctic Initiative discuss the key findings of the "Policy and Action on Plastic in the Arctic Ocean" workshop report.

In recent decades, the amount of plastic debris in the Arctic Ocean has increased dramatically, to the point that in some locations Arctic sea ice contains higher concentrations of microplastics than in the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This buildup is raising serious environmental and economic concerns among Arctic residents. 

The Arctic Initiative is actively engaged in fostering policy discussions around combating this growing challenge. In 2019, the Arctic Initiative, the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute, and the Arctic Council’s Icelandic Chairmanship co-hosted “Policy and Action on Plastic in the Arctic Ocean,” a workshop that gathered over 60 global experts to begin developing a framework for plastic pollution mitigation in the region. The workshop report contributed to the development of the Arctic Council’s 2021 Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter. The report was also featured in the keynote of the 2021 International Symposium on Plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region, the first-ever global conference on addressing Arctic marine plastic pollution. The Arctic Initiative served as a Symposium Partner.


Featured Insights & Analysis

Contact

For general information and inquiries, please email Brittany Janis (brittany_janis@hks.harvard.edu).

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