Integrating Permafrost Science into Policy

The symposium featured the release of “Policy and Action on Plastic In the Arctic Ocean,” a joint report published by the Arctic Initiative and the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute. The report has been a valuable resource to the Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment Working Group in its development of an Arctic Regional Action Plan to address plastic pollution. Magnús Jóhannesson, the Arctic Council Special Coordinator on Plastics Pollution and Marine Litter, said of the report, “Most of the strategy action recommendations from the Belfer Center report are on the table in the discussion for the development of the regional action plan.”

To view a recording of the keynote, which highlights the report’s key findings, visit: https://youtu.be/3HqHxqzVfvA.

Building collapse due to permafrost thaw in Selwak, Alaska.

Arctic temperatures are increasing three times faster than the global average. The impacts of this rapid warming are manifold and far-reaching, ranging from threats to wildlife, Indigenous cultures, and infrastructure, to alteration of Northern Hemisphere weather patterns and acceleration of global sea-level rise. In addition, carbon emissions from permafrost thaw and Arctic wildfires, which are not fully accounted for in global emissions budgets, could greatly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that humans can emit while remaining below 2°C. There is an urgent need to incorporate the latest science on permafrost thaw and Arctic wildfires into international consideration of how aggressively societal emissions must be reduced to address the global climate crisis. At the same time, Arctic leaders and communities must ramp up efforts to ameliorate the local impacts of these phenomena on infrastructure, livelihoods, and traditional ways of life. The Arctic Initiative has been working closely with our collaborators at the Woodwell Climate Research Center to elevate the topic of permafrost thaw and increase awareness and action among policymakers. The Woodwell Climate Research Center is producing cutting-edge science on this topic, while the Arctic Initiative is working with decisionmakers to integrate the emerging science into more robust policy and programs for mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. In May 2021, John Holdren and Woodwell Climate Research Center scientists Susan Natali, Brendan Rogers, Rachael Treharne, Philip Duffy, Rafe Pomerance, and Erin MacDonald published “Permafrost Carbon Feedbacks Threaten Global Climate Goals” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America.