Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic: Perspectives from the Barents Area

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Chapter 3 · Local and regional perspectives on adaptation

benefits. The outcome of this dialog will be brought together in a plan for an Integrated European Research Programme that will be co-designed by all relevant stakeholders. That the EU has a strong focus on stakeholder engagement in the Arctic is also evident from their new integrated policy for the Arctic (European Commission, 2016). Further development of EU Arctic policy will focus on three key areas: supporting research and channeling knowledge to address environmental and climate change in the Arctic; acting responsibly to ensure economic development in theArctic is based on sustainable use of resources and environmental expertise; and strengthening engagement and dialog with Arctic states, indigenous peoples and other partners (Stępień and Raspotnik, 2016). 3.3.1 Adaptation in the Barents study area The Barents Region formally began in 1993 with the establishment of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) and the Barents Regional Council. The BEAC is the forum for intergovernmental cooperation on issues such as security and sustainable development in northern Europe. Knowledge production is an essential element of this development (Tunander, 2008). However, there appears to have been a marked dichotomy in developing Barents-specific information for decision-makers. Regionally-based knowledge has mainly served projects on specific topics such as human health, transport and environmental hotspots, establishing short- term collaboration among knowledge producers and focusing more on some sub-regions than others. This is very different to the Arctic Council process. Since the early 1990s, the Arctic knowledge base has been developed through assessments aimed at identifying common concerns for cooperation, and through networks and partnerships formed to support regional knowledge production within the framework of the Arctic Council and other outside bodies, such as the University of the Arctic network (Tennberg,1998; Keskitalo,2004; Nilsson,2007). Although the BEAC region is part of the Arctic area of cooperation, many of the Arctic Council assessments do not follow a regional logic, but instead pursue particular themes concerning Arctic development.Without a specific regionally- focused approach to producing targeted knowledge, effective action is difficult. The BEAC region does not, for instance, appear as a unit of analysis or description in recent assessments of Arctic change (Statistics Norway, 2006, 2009; Aslaksen et al., 2010; Nordic Council of Ministers, 2011, 2015),while theArctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA, 2005) and the Arctic Marine ShippingAssessment (Arctic Council, 2009) did adopt a regional approach.Table 3.1 compares differences in knowledge production within the Arctic Council and BEAC. Climate change emerged on the BEAC agenda in the early 2000s,expanding the agenda to cover region-wide issues instead of Russian only concerns. According to Sreejith (2009), there have been twomain approaches in terms of Barents cooperation on climate change: to raise ‘impact awareness’ through identification of threats and risks; and ‘a solution approach’ referring mostly to mitigation action. More specific issues for regional cooperation on climate change have now been identified,such as water resources,human health,transport,and nomadic reindeer herding.The need to increase understanding of climate change issues and for further regional adaptation

Nordic Council of Ministers (2015),men, women and different age groups (the youth and the elderly), are not affected equally by the changes taking place in theArctic. In the Barents Region, human-health experts and stakeholders have collaborated since the early 1990s to exchange information and experiences, develop research projects and build competence in the public sector working with health, youth and gender issues. This has taken place under, for example, the BarentsWorking Group on Health and the EUNorthern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (NDPHS). Gender studies have also had a long tradition in the Barents Region,starting from the Nordic-Russian Femina Borealis network in the early 1990s and then projects on crisis centers in the Barents Region (Saarinen). Gender research cooperation has been included within the TUARK-network ( Tromsö-Umeå-Archangelsk-Rovaniemi- Kingston Network on Gender Equality in the Arctic ). Research on the wellbeing of elderly people was addressed in the project Arctic Change and Elderly Exclusion: A gender-based perspective (Naskali et al., 2016). This cooperation continues within the project Advancing Elderly People’s Agency and Inclusion in the Changing Arctic and Nordic Welfare System . 3.3 Regional perspectives on adaptation This section examines regional perspectives on adaptation, including the lack of a regionally-constructed knowledge base for adaptation, the difficulty of framing issues in regional terms, and the need to develop new types of partnerships and networks to develop regionally-based knowledge. As noted by Ford et al. (2015), “ Although these local responses represent important developments, adapting to future change will require broader-level action to address both generic and specific capacities to adapt in the context of ongoing social, economic, political, demographic and environmental change. There is evidence of this happening in some locations, although a coherent vision and framework for approaching adaptation is largely absent. ” The present assessment is a step in this direction. There have been some previous efforts to produce a regional approach to adaptation issues in the Barents Region.The need for science to communicate with stakeholders was recognized at an early stage in regional climate change research (Lange and BASIS consortium, 2003; Lange et al., 2008).As part of the BALANCE project, Keskitalo (2008) held extensive interviews with stakeholders and knowledge keepers (reindeer herders, forestry professionals, fishers) to identify their concerns about climate change and globalization. The EU has encouraged the involvement of stakeholders in research. Change in the Barents area has also been assessed within several EU projects, including an assessment of the EU‘s current and future footprint on the Arctic environment (Cavalieri et al., 2010) and an assessment of EU development in the Arctic (Stępień et al., 2014). Several knowledge and communication needs were identified in this process (Tedsen et al., 2014). In 2015, the EU initiated EU-PolarNet. Among other things this project aims to establish an ongoing dialog between policy- makers, business and industry leaders, local communities and scientists to increase mutual understanding and identify new ways of working that will deliver economic and societal