One of the panel sessions, “Bridging Gaps in the Arctic Ocean Economy - Advancing Regional Cooperation and Knowledge Exchange” was moderated by Dr. Andreas Raspotnik, Lead of the UArctic Thematic Network on the Blue Economy and the Arctic (BlueArctic) and Director of the High North Center for Business and Governance at Nord University. The session discussed ways of defining the blue economy in the Arctic as well as challenges and opportunities for more regional educational cooperation between blue economy stakeholders. The panel also focused on the BlueConnect project—recently endorsed by the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG)—which aims to develop a transdisciplinary platform for regional stakeholders to meet, share best practices, promote knowledge exchange, and strengthen Arctic cooperation.
The panelists included Mr. Mads Qvist Frederiksen, Executive Director of the Arctic Economic Council; Ms. Camilla Olsen, Vice Chair of the Arctic Council SDWG; and Dr. Diane Hirshberg, Director of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Institute of Social and Economic Research and UArctic Vice-President Academic.
Nord University and UAA are active members of UArctic, and Hirshberg serves as UArctic’s representative to the SDWG. Hirshberg also moderated a panel on “Fulbright Arctic Scholars: Advancing Solutions for a Changing North.”
Others in attendance included Pat Pitney, University of Alaska President and UArctic Board Member; Dr. Jeffrey M. Welker, UArctic Chair in Ecology and Biogeochemistry; and Dr. Mike Sfraga, interim Chancellor for the University of Alaska Fairbanks and co-creator and former co-director of the UArctic Institute for Arctic Policy (IAP).
Additionally, UArctic had a booth on site with Shared Voices magazines and an interactive screen highlighting our website and the Climate Interventions project. The UArctic Foundation (US) is currently fundraising for the next step in the Climate Interventions project, where field experts will produce a library of in-depth scientific and legal assessments for each of the 61 interventions previously gathered and reviewed.