Environment & Climate Change

Awareness of biodiversity loss is increasing, but climate change still dominates investors' discourse on the environment. Joel Clement, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, explains why we need to focus urgently on the biodiversity crisis. He also discusses why he came a whistleblower in 2017 and the aftermath of that decision.

The Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs recently published an extensive report with a detailed analysis on the current relationship between Greenland and Iceland with 99 recommendations on how to strengthen their co-operation. Halla Hrund Logadóttir moderated the discussion.

2021 Arctic Frontiers hosted a panel of young Arctic leaders alongside seasoned Arctic influencers who dove deeper into the opportunities and obstacles northern youth face now and in the future. Framed in the context of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, speakers were invited to discuss the pressing issues that they stand to inherit such as climate change, societal pressure, migration of young people to the south, and the question of whether the Arctic is facing its own cultural revolution. This session sought to build bridges between generations, borders, and disciplines to find the best solutions for a resilient Arctic.

The second Arctic Resilience Forum was hosted entirely online — and successfully so. The Arctic Council interviewed the two main organizers: Jennifer Spence, the Executive Secretary of the Council's Sustainable Development Working Group, and Joel Clement, Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. They spoke about the challenge to move the forum into the virtual realm, the unexpected benefits, and the ambitious next steps for resilience in the Arctic.

Ice in the Arctic is melting at record rates and warming at twice the global average — and the Trump administration continues to hand over control of the Arctic to Big Oil. The House Natural Resources Democrats hosted a forum on Monday, October 5, to learn how the higher temperatures are wreaking havoc on wildlife, fisheries and humans who have call the Arctic home for generations.

Arctic Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow Sarah Mackie gave a presentation to Girlguiding Newcastle (the equivalent of Girl Scouts in the UK), where she is a Ranger leader, about the Arctic, how climate change is affecting it, and what everyone (particularly children) can do to help.

Temperatures across the Arctic are increasing two to four times faster than the global average. The dramatic consequences that are already apparent include reduction of sea-ice cover, accelerating loss of land ice from glaciers and the Greenland Ice Sheet, proliferating wildfires, and—the topic of this panel—ongoing heating and thawing of the permafrost that underlies most of the land area of the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions across the globe

Halla Logadóttir, former director of the Iceland School of Energy at Reykjavík University and co-founder of the Belfer Center’s Arctic Initiative, speaks with Aroop Mukharji (@aroopmukharji) about the future of the Arctic region, sustainability in Iceland, and how Icelanders get their names.