MARCS: Making use of Arctic science - The Case of the Arctic Council

The project aims to analyze the Arctic Council and its role as a cooperation platform to handle local, national, regional, and global challenges related to the “new” Arctic. In the project, a closer look at opportunities and challenges connected to the Norwegian chairmanship is made. The war in Ukraine has changed the space of opportunity. What can the Arctic Council do now? The project aims to facilitate a well-informed academic and public discussion about the Arctic Council.

To what degree and under what conditions do the member states use knowledge and policy recommendations which are brought forward by the Arctic Council’s working groups?

The researchers will narrow down and create three large cases: Black carbon, shipping, and biodiversity.

• Black carbon (BC): – commonly known as soot – is a small particle created by incomplete combustion of fossil fuel, biofuels, and biomass. BC is now becoming the second most important driving force in the global climate change, second only to CO2.
• Shipping: The Arctic Council largest working group, PAME, conducts an extensive work to map the effects of shipping in the Arctic. This applies to both environmentally harmful emissions and preparedness, in addition to scenarios connected to the melting of the sea ice, which makes the Polar Silk Road more available.
• Biodiversity: Contributing to taking care of the life in the Arctic has been a pillar of the Arctic Council for many years. Climate change is now confirmed as the most serious threat to Arctic biodiversity and the lack of knowledge about Arctic ecosystems and their functions have been an important knowledge gap to fill.