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Nordregio researchers Ágúst Bogason, Anna Karlsdóttir, and Timothy Heleniak presented at the Arctic circle conference on 13-16 October in Reykjavík. They participated in several sessions and shared Nordregio’s research on remote work and arctic issues. Bogason presented in the session “Remote Areas: A Window Of Opportunity” organized by NORA (the Nordic Atlantic Cooperation), with speakers from the Faroe Islands and the islands of Scotland. The researcher introduced the results of Nordregio’s project on remote work and multilocality. According to Bogason, the preliminary results do, in many ways, fit the narrative we heard first-hand from the peripheral areas and remote places: they have vast opportunities. Optimism and innovative solutions are paving the way for a future where traditional challenges of rural communities are being re-defined as strengths and benefits. “Nordregio’s research results suggest that there is optimism among the planners and policymakers in the rural regions that increased remote work and multi-local living can contribute to developing more sustainable peripheral regions. While the results also show an increased willingness of people to move to more remote areas while continuing their work, either remotely or by dividing their time between two or more places. In this way, remote work gives rural regions more possibilities as they can often offer different things than urban areas”, said Bogason. Heleniak presented a publication, “Island hopping: infrastructure development in the Faroe Islands,” in the session “Arctic transport infrastructures and sustainable communities.”  “The building of bridges and especially sub-sea tunnels have linked outer-lying settlements to the capital of Tórshavn, making it much easier to live outside Tórshavn and travel there for work or other purposes. However, the population has become quite car-dependent, as is the case in many periphery regions of the Arctic”, said Heleniak presenting the research. Karlsdóttir participated in a session “The Revenge of Geopolitics:…

Senior Research Fellow Leneisja Jungsberg and Research Fellow Justine Ramage have published an article examining permafrost perceptions in three Arctic communities. Jungsberg has also written a comment for a study examining opportunistic climate adaption in Greenland. The article ‘No longer solid’: perceived impacts of permafrost thaw in three Arctic communities, published in Polar Geography, is written by Nordregio researchers Dr. Justine Ramage and Dr. Leneisja Jungsberg. The article examines local communities’ perceptions of permafrost change. The study, carried out between 2019 and 2020 in Aklavik (Northwest Territories, Canada), Longyearbyen (Svalbard, Norway), and Qeqertarsuaq (Qeqertalik Municipality, Greenland), shows that the majority of the 237 participants are well aware of the consequences of permafrost thaw on the landscape as well as the connection between increased air temperature and permafrost thaw. – Permafrost thaw is perceived as a major cause for challenges in subsistence activities, infrastructure, and the physical environment. Different perceptions within the three study communities suggests that perceptions of thaw are not solely determined by physical changes but also influenced by factors related to the societal context, including discourses of climate change, cultural background, and land use, Dr. Jungsberg states. What do you think is interesting to point out for a broader audience? – Permafrost characterizes ground conditions in most of the Arctic and is increasingly thawing. While environmental consequences of permafrost thaw are under intense scrutiny by natural and life sciences, social sciences’ studies on local communities’ perceptions of change are thus far limited. This hinders the development of targeted adaptation and mitigation measures. Read the article here. What are the economic opportunities for glacially-derived sand extraction in Greenland? Senior Research Fellow Leneisja Jungsberg has also recently published Turning Greenland’s sand into gold – a comment for a study examining opportunistic climate adaptation in Greenland. With the warming climate an…

On the 2nd of June, Nordregio Senior Researcher Dr. Leneisja Jungsberg will participate in a Climate Coffee to share about her study examining the adaptive capacity for managing permafrost degradation in Northwest Greenland. The study focuses on three aspects: community awareness, institutional organisation, and scientific knowledge to inform decision-making. “Permafrost degradation is a big challenge for many Arctic communities. Results from this study illustrate the impact of permafrost degradation on the physical environment, hunting and harvesting, housing, and the economy in Northwest Greenland. House owners are mending damage caused by ground movement, and local institutions are concerned with the maintenance of roads and other public infrastructure impacted by permafrost,” says Dr. Jungsberg. The empirical material is informed by questionnaire and interview data from fieldwork, frozen ground temperature records, and published data forecasting the deepening of the active layer. Results illustrate that much of the adaptation practices are carried out ad-hoc and due to a lack of human and financial resources there are currently no long-term solutions. The research leading to this study received support from the Nunataryuk project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program. Climate coffees are relaxed meetings for scientists to exchange ideas, discuss about their latest results and new methods with their fellow scientists. Climate coffees are an initiative of ECRA and Blue-Action. Read the article here. Register for the Climate coffee here.

Nordregio researchers Timothy Heleniak and Justine Ramage will present at the “Population Dynamics and Climate Implications in the Arctic” webinar. They will participate in a panel discussion on Arctic Population Dynamics and share their insights based on Nordregio projects ”Polar Peoples in the Future: Projections of the Arctic Populations” and “Atlas of population, society and economy in the Arctic”. The webinar will provide a forum for experts and attendees to: Identify human geography data which provides a foundation for examining the changing environment in the Arctic Explore Arctic demographic trends, including outmigration, urbanization, and settlements, and their broader impacts Discuss participatory and other local mapping processes conducted with indigenous peoples to better understand human security issues in the Arctic region Webinar speakers and the WWHGD Working Group Support Team will highlight and share relevant methods and data during the event. You will also have the opportunity to collaborate with other participants, share data, and pose questions to the speakers. The webinar is sponsored by the World-wide Human Geography Data Working Group and hosted by the Office of the Geographer of the U.S. State Department. The WWHGD is co-led by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Department of State. Find more information and registration here.

The Council of Nordic Ministers decided as of March 4, 2022, to immediately discontinue all collaborative efforts with Russia and Belarus. The Nordic Ministers for Cooperation stand united in this decision. This means that programs, projects, and activities in Russia and Belarus are discontinued until further notice. In light of the stance put forth by the Nordic Ministers for Cooperation, Nordregio issues a moratorium as regards the disbursal of project funds, the acceptance of applications, the execution of projects, and the entry into agreements and the like that involve Russian and Belarusian parties. The intention is to end all contacts and collaborative efforts with governmental and public institutions of Russian or Belarusian origin. “Intellectual and cultural engagement between individuals is an important prerequisite to creating cohesion and mutual understanding between countries. It is devastating that this war in this way will affect cooperation in academia, research and culture – fields that are meant to serve as tools for mitigating conflicts, building global understanding across borders and supporting people-to-people contacts. The Director reserves the right to decide whether specific contacts and collaborative efforts are appropriate on a case-by-case basis if the circumstances change in the future,” says Nordregio Director Rolf Elmér. Nordregio has been involved with four projects with one or several Russian counterparts: FemArc, Semper Arctic, WANO and Accelerating wood construction across Nordics and Russia. All of these projects have been halted.

Nordregio Senior Research Fellow Anna Karlsdóttir will present the Female Arctic project at the Barents Spektakel Festival.  During the 18th edition of the Barents Spektakel, between the 23rd and 27th of February 2022, Nordregio Senior Research Fellow Anna Karlsdóttir will present the Female Arctic project. Funded by the Swedish Institute, this initiative is a participatory filmmaking project where participants from the Murmansk region learn the basics of documentary films to create a movie about women living and creating in the Arctic. During the event, Anna Karlsdóttir will present comparative perspectives from the mining communities in Sweden and women’s agency, drawing on historical evidence and using examples of Swedish women in Norrbotten. The presentation will also feature parts of the film in the making, and curators and participants will share their experiences of co-creating the film. Female Arctic was preceded by a pilot project on empowering women in industrialized cities of the North when the project partners organized workshops in Murmansk.  A new golden age of celebration and decadence? A long overdue reunion with friends and family? Or a false dawn for normality? The 2022 edition will focus on movements, mobility, community, and the re-making of meeting places. The festival aims to become a platform for imagination again through a cross-border programme of performances, exhibitions, concerts, debates, discussions, a bar concept, and an art symposium. During these uncertain times, still in transition, now is the time to ask ourselves: Where do we go from here? Read more about the festival!