The Arctic Governance Project

Climate change – coupled with globalization – has triggered a rapidly accelerating cascade of events leading to profound environmental and socioeconomic changes in the Arctic - both on land and at sea. In response, demand is growing for science-based innovation in the conservation, management and governance of Arctic resources. This demand, in turn, has generated an outpouring of new ways of thinking about governance in the Arctic — resulting in a range of concrete proposals and policy alternatives for sustaining arctic communities, ecosystems and biodiversity.

The project draws on the insights from traditional ecological knowledge and cutting edge scientific knowledge.

The Project has assembled an array of global perpectives and proposals on governance solutions in its Arctic Governance Compendium. The Project's leadership and a diverse cross-section of researchers and stakeholders subjected these proposals to careful scrutiny at the Tromsø Summit of the AGP in January 2010.

After the Tromsø meeting, AGP staff will compile a set of responsible and widely supported principles to help guide governance decision-making. These recommendations will be presented to key policymakers in the national, international and non-governmental sectors.