Abstract
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report to the Arctic Council in 2004 was the “first” comprehensive assessment of climate change in the Arctic. It delivered dramatic messages to the world on the changes in the Arctic climate and the critical role of this region for the future development of the global climate. These messages were confirmed in the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007. Hence, this chapter seeks to summarize the findings of the ACIA that are increasingly viewed as foundational security issues for a sustainable future for the Arctic region and a bellwether of change for the rest of the world. Further, there follows a discussion of the Arctic Council assessments that followed the ACIA as well as an outline of a potential comprehensive follow-on assessment that is designed to assess the many elements of change, many of which have security implications for the eight Arctic countries, the peoples of the north, and for the world at large.
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Notes
- 1.
Member States of the Arctic Council are Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States of America as well as the Permanent Participants of the Arctic Council representing the six Indigenous Peoples Organizations of the Arctic: Aleut International Association (AIA), Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC), Gwich’in Council International (GCI), Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), Saami Council, and the Russian Arctic Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON).
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Corell, R.W. (2013). Arctic Impact Assessment: Setting the Stage. In: Berkman, P., Vylegzhanin, A. (eds) Environmental Security in the Arctic Ocean. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4713-5_7
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