164 Items

Two researchers walk across the snow toward a large research boat in the distance.

Olaf Schneider/Norsk Polarinstitutt

Paths Forward for Norway as New Chair of the Arctic Council

| Spring 2023

An excerpt from an interview with Fran Ulmer, Senior Fellow with the Belfer Center’s Arctic Initiative, explains what we might expect from the transition to Norwegian leadership, as well as possible paths forward for the Arctic Council and Arctic governance more broadly. The interview was conducted by Belfer Center Communications and Outreach Specialist Elizabeth Hanlon. 

flags of the Arctic Council

Arctic Council/Flickr

Analysis & Opinions

The Arctic Council in Transition: An Interview with Fran Ulmer

| May 08, 2023

In March 2022, seven of the eight Arctic states announced an unprecedented pause in the operations of the Arctic Council in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Elizabeth Hanlon sat down with Arctic Initiative Senior Fellow Fran Ulmer to understand what we might expect when Norway assumes the Chairship of the Council from Russia on May 11, 2023.

Chinese icebreaker Xuelong

Banhfrend/Wikimedia Commons

Journal Article - Climatic Change

Geopolitical and Economic Interests in Environmental Governance: Explaining Observer State Status in the Arctic Council

| Apr. 21, 2023

In 2013, the Arctic Council underwent its most significant change since its foundation in 1996, with its formalization through the creation of a secretariat, the confirmation of eight observers, and acceptance of other five states, including China, with the same status. This study explores geopolitical and economic interests of actors of regional environmental governance that impact both applications and their acceptance as observer states.

Allison Agsten

Courtesy Allison Agsten

News - Harvard Kennedy School Magazine

From the Arts to the Arctic to Climate Journalism

| Winter 2023

Allison Agsten MC/MPA 2021 is director of the new Center for Climate Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She recounts for Harvard Kennedy School Magazine how her work with the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative shaped her career direction.

Morten Hoglund

Nadezhda Filimonova

Press Release - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

HKS Arctic Initiative Response: Priorities for Norway’s Chairship of the Arctic Council

| Mar. 31, 2023

On March 31 at the Arctic Encounter Symposium in Anchorage, Alaska, the government of Norway presented its program for Norway’s upcoming Chairship of the Arctic Council. In response, John Holdren, Co-Director of the Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, issued the following statement of support.

ARCADE cohort at Arctic Frontiers Conference

Jonny Yau

News

‘Deeply Enriching’: Kennedy School Students Build Leadership Skills, Connections at Arctic Frontiers

| Mar. 24, 2023

In January, Harvard Kennedy School students Jonny Yau (MPP 2024) and Stirling Haig (MPP 2024) traveled to Tromsø, Norway, for a week-long intensive workshop hosted by the Arctic Academy for Social and Environmental Leadership (ARCADE). As part of the workshop, Yau and Haig joined Arctic Initiative team members at the 2023 Arctic Frontiers Conference, an annual meeting of scientists, policymakers, and business leaders focused on sustainable development in the Arctic.

herd of walrus on ice floe

Caitlin Bailey, GFOE, The Hidden Ocean 2016: Chukchi Borderlands via NOAA

Analysis & Opinions - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

The UN High Seas Treaty in the Arctic Context

| Mar. 21, 2023

Legal scholar Andrey Todorov, Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Arctic Initiative, reflects on the recent agreement reached by United Nations delegates to protect biodiversity in international waters and its implications for the Arctic. 

Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau shake hands

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File

Analysis & Opinions - The Hill

Biden and Trudeau Need to Talk About the Arctic

| Mar. 18, 2023

Arctic Initiative Co-Director John Holdren and Senior Fellow Fran Ulmer call for increased U.S.-Canadian cooperation on geopolitical challenges around relations with Russia and China as well as the critical problems being imposed by climate change on the North American Arctic.

Russia's newly built nuclear-powered icebreaker Ural

AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky

Analysis & Opinions - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

New Russian Law on Northern Sea Route Navigation: Gathering Arctic Storm or Tempest in a Teapot?

| Mar. 09, 2023

Amid increasing tensions between the West and Russia, a new Russian law regulating the navigation of foreign warships in the Northern Sea Route, whose legal regime has been the subject of a long-standing U.S.-Russian dispute, has garnered much international concern and criticism. However, a sober analysis suggests that many observers’ interpretations of the new law and its implications for Arctic security are overblown.