The Center for Global Studies is excited to co-sponsor a number of activities which look closely at issues of climate change, industry, economics and international relations that directly affect indigenous communities living in the Arctic. The Arctic is a new frontier in foreign policy with political, military, economic, social, and environmental pressures, and has gained increasing international interest, often yielding tense circumpolar politics. UW students, staff, faculty, and experts on the Arctic have engaged still contentious issues.

In our video series experts from various disciplines fielded UW students’ questions on issues such as traditional indigenous  knowledge and law, exploration, geological exploration, climate change, and economic and social development.

While the effects of climate change pose new challenges in the Arctic, melting ice and warmer temperatures also present economic opportunities. In the above podcast of World Policy On Air, Inuuteq Holm Olsen, the first Greenland representative at the Danish embassy in Washington, explains how the semi-autonomous nation is working to balance an emerging tourism industry and natural resource extraction with environmental sustainability.

Also check out a summary of the the first workshop to explore the U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council from the perspective of the “One Arctic” agenda.  In the Arctic, the Inuit homeland is unbounded, with four artificial boundaries including Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and Russia. However, the Inuit people are left out of important policy conversations and not respected, according to Rosemarie Kuptana, former chair of the ICC and a voice of the indigenous and sub-national representatives in the workshop. These and other issues were passionately discussed during this workshop held at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. co-hosted by Trent University, the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, and the World Policy Institute’s Arctic in Context initiative.

Click on each tile above to see debates on various issues by experts and by students! Check back in for more updates!