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The Arctic This Week Take Five: Week of 20 November, 2023

Greenland Decides to Join the Paris Agreement on Climate Change

What the 14th Five-Year Plan says about China’s Arctic Interests

In March 2021, during the annual session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, the Chinese leadership formally adopted the 14th Five-Year Plan,1) marking the first time that one of China’s five-year plans directly mentions the Arctic.2) The plan, cumbersomely titled the…

Alaska communities must adapt as climate change transforms state, federal report says

Declining sea ice, thinning snowpack, thawing permafrost and other climate-driven changes are threatening the health, livelihoods and cultural practices of Alaskans across the state, according to a major new federal report. “Choose any societal issue you want — climate change is…

Norwegian Government Criticized for Failing to Support Joint Climate Statement

Storting representative for the Norwegian Socialist Left Party, Lars Haltbrekken, questions what he calls “Norway’s lack of support” for a joint climate statement during the One Planet Polar Summit in Paris recently. During Wednesday’s oral Question Time in the Norwegian parliament,…

Relief, Recovery, and Peace: Iris Ferguson on COP28’s New Theme

In a new mini-series previewing the upcoming UN Climate Summit (COP28)’s new focus on relief, recovery, & peace, ECSP Program Director Lauren Risi spoke with Iris Ferguson, the US Department of Defense’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arctic and Global Resilience. Deputy…

Warming of 2C would trigger ‘catastrophic’ loss of world’s ice, new report says

Global warming of 2C would see “extensive, long-term [and] essentially irreversible” losses from the Earth’s ice sheets and glaciers, warns a new report. It would also lead to polar oceans that are “ice-free” in summer and suffering “essentially permanent corrosive…

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities visits Norway to gain first-hand insight into the country’s management of diversity

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov visited Norway from 6 to 10 November 2023. In Oslo, Abdrakhmanov met Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide to discuss issues pertaining to his mandate, the situation within the OSCE and ways to…

One Planet – Polar Summit: The first Summit devoted to the preservation of glaciers and poles

This first international Summit devoted to glaciers and poles aims to strengthen international cooperation to preserve the cryosphere and glacial and polar biodiversity. The major representatives of the international scientific community along with political leaders and representatives, including French President…

The Arctic This Week Take Five: Week of 13 November, 2023

UK Deterrence and Assurance Conference in Scotland Sees Focus on High North Security