Introduced by Erica Dingman
Twenty years since the signing of the Ottawa Declaration, formally launching the Arctic Council, the U.S. has reached the mid-point of its second rotation as chair of the Arctic Council. Momentous as the founding of the Arctic Council was at the time, after years of hard negotiations the event received little recognition. After the Cold War, the Arctic region barely resonated with politicians or media. Now, two decades later, the Arctic Council and the Arctic region have gained a considerably higher degree of recognition—albeit with limited attention to many of the complexities of Arctic issues.
To address some of the current issues facing the Arctic, four participants who attended the One Arctic symposium graciously provide thought-provoking ideas about current and future challenges. Filmed primarily at the symposium in Washington, DC, Toward Arctic Futures offers refreshing insights into the challenges that lay ahead for the people living in the Arctic, and what Arctic change means for the rest of the world. Rosemarie Kuptana, former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and Jim Gamble, executive director of Aleut International Association, offer indigenous perspectives. They are followed in conversation with Susan Harper, Canada’s Senior Arctic Official at the Arctic Council, and David Kennedy, Senior Arctic Advisor at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
We are pleased to present Toward Arctic Futures.
*****
*****
Erica Dingman is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute and director of Arctic in Context.
Sponsoring Programs:
At Trent University, the School for the Study of Canada is the key sponsor of the workshop with funding provided by a grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Sponsors at the University of Washington include the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies; the U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Centers in the Jackson School: the Canadian Studies Center, the Center for Global Studies, the Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, the Center for West European Studies, and the East Asia Center; the Jackson School’s International Policy Institute (funded by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York); the University of Washington’s Future of Ice initiative; and the Global Business Center in the Michael G. Foster School of Business. At the World Policy Institute, New York City, Arctic in Context is the key sponsor. The Polar Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the host for the workshop. Trent University’s Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies and Western Washington University’s Canadian American Studies Centre has also contributed.
The World Policy Institute would like to acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s role in support of knowledge mobilization from the One Arctic Symposium.
Toward Arctic futures is also featured on One Arctic Workshop.
[Photo courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey]
This article first appeared on the World Policy Institute website.