In January, two dozen Indigenous youth from across the circumpolar North visited Cambridge for the International Workshop on Indigenous Youth Leadership for the Changing Arctic. They joined Harvard Kennedy School students for the second half of IGA-67M: “Policy and Social Innovation for the Changing Arctic” for an intensive course in developing their own policy and social innovations to address issues in a region warming four times faster than the rest of the world. 

What if we could repurpose oil and gas pipelines to supply remote Arctic communities with clean water? What if Arctic entrepreneurs could connect with investors and raise capital over an online crowdfunding platform? These were some of the novel solutions to Arctic challenges proposed by Harvard Kennedy School students during this year’s Arctic Innovation Lab in January.

A new study from the University of Leeds mostly confirmed previous estimates with greater precision, but it also found more variability than is currently accounted for in global climate models, writes Cristine Russell.

Cristine Russell details how the seasonal scientific field work in the Arctic — from the Toolik Field Station on Alaska's North Slope to ice core drilling in Greenland — is being postponed or cancelled this year because of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

This article discusses the climate challenges the Arctic region is facing, and the Arctic Initiative's new Arctic Innovator's program, committed to training new leaders and spearheading new research in the Arctic region.