COMMERCE: Navigating the Future of Commerce in the Arctic

The world is just beginning to recognize the importance of the Arctic.

Its environment drives global weather patterns, but also serves as a bellwether for the changes our planet is undergoing as a result of a rapidly changing global climate; it has vibrant Indigenous communities that celebrate their traditional ties to the land and play an increasingly crucial role in regional and international governance; it has vast economic potential in natural resource development, the blue ocean economy, alternative energy sources and technologies; and the cooperative nature amongst Arctic states in addressing the foregoing issues and opportunities can serve as a model for constructive international governance in other regions.

In short, while it is hard to overstate the complexities of many of the issues facing the Arctic region, it is also hard to overstate the importance to all involved for those issues to be addressed in an equitable, sustainable manner. The foreign policy community in the United States and around the world must learn how to better live, work, operate, and interact in the Arctic. Those who live in the Arctic and experts who study the region should help clarify and contextualize the range of policy choices at hand. All of us need to better communicate to stakeholders and the broader public why the Arctic matters, not just right now, but for years to come.

Navigating the Arctic’s 7Cs will advance our conceptual understanding of the Arctic and, I am confident, lead to more effective solutions to the challenges evident there. This framework breaks down the nuances of specific issues, and puts forward a frame-of-mind within which to consider the Arctic. Simplifying these issues, perhaps paradoxically, reveals just how interrelated each is to the other: how environmental changes impact all the other issues present in the region; how proper economic development needs Indigenous leadership…the list goes on and on. Navigating the Arctic’s 7Cs is a guide to the Arctic, a roadmap to better understanding and a more informed approach for stakeholders looking northward.

This framework is the Wilson Center at its best: we convene experts to illuminate the factors that drive forward foreign policy. It’s a role we have embraced for over 50 years, and with frameworks like Navigating the Arctic’s 7Cs, we can continue to provide leading analysis for more deliberate US foreign policy.