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Step Up and Take Climate Leadership

Shared Voices 2020 Step Up And Take Climate Leadership

By Eirik Sivertsen, Chair, Standing Committee of the Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region

Among the first and hardest hit by the consequences of global warming are those of us who live in the North. If we reach the Paris Agreement goals of a two-degree increase in temperature, in the North it will mean six to eight degrees. A 3.2-degree increase could possibly mean an average rise of over ten degrees in the North.

It is therefore essential that we step up our efforts. We need dramatic cuts in the emissions of greenhouse gases, and we need them fast. Time is of the essence, and our climate commitments must be of fundamental importance when we plan for the future.

As a total percentage of the seven billion people on the planet, only few of us live in the High North – in total, we number just over four million. We may not be so many, but we are no less important than anyone else, with the same needs, responsibilities and rights as people elsewhere. Global warming is a global problem. It was not created in the Arctic alone; therefore it cannot be solved in the Arctic alone.

That said, the eight member states of the Arctic Council together with its thirteen observer countries and the European Union are responsible for 80 percent of global emissions. Maybe it is easier for 21 countries to agree to cut emissions than for 200 countries.

For me, it is obvious that science plays a central role in how we are going to face and tackle this crisis. People do not understand well enough what this is about – we need education. We do not know enough about what is happening – we need research. We do not know enough about the consequences, either for people or for nature. And we do not know enough about how to adapt to the changes.

Let me end with the good news: we know what the problem is, we have the technology to fix it, we can afford it, and there is still time. All we need is the political leadership.

COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, will be held in Glasgow in November 2021. It is paramount that the countries reach an agreement to fulfil the goals from the Paris Agreement. I dare the Arctic Council members, the observer states and the European Union to take a leading role. I expect you to show the rest of the world how to solve the challenge – for the best of the people in the Arctic and elsewhere.

 

Adapted from Eirik Sivertsen’s speech at the meeting of the Council of UArctic in Stockholm, Sweden in September 2019

Table of Contents

  1. Letter from the President

    By Lars Kullerud

  2. Editorial

    By Outi Snellman

  3. Letter from Monaco

    By HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco

  4. Climate Action – A Need for Policy

    By Pekka Haavisto

  5. Russia’s Ten Priorities in the Arctic

    By Alexander V. Krutikov

  6. Learning from the Crisis: Issues in Strengthening Online Learning for the Future

    By Diane Hirshberg and Paul Wasko

  7. Multidisciplinary Research as Climate Action

    By Annika Granebeck and Nina Kirchner

  8. It Takes a Village: University of New Hampshire Students Spur Climate Change Research to Action

    By Colleen Flaherty, Rebecca Irelan and Cameron Wake

  9. Exploring Arctic Policy from an Inuit Perspective

    By Nadine C. Fabbi, Michelle Koutnik, Ellen Ahlness and Elizabeth Wessells

  10. Stories from the Ice: A History of Arctic Climate and Environmental Change Told in Ice Cores

    By Karl Kreutz, Cameron Wake, Erich Osterberg and Alison Criscitiello

  11. Student story: Anna-Katri Kulmala

  12. UArctic Annual Report 2019

  13. Building Relationships with Land: Bushkids Initiative

    By Chloe Dragon Smith

  14. Understanding Climate Change Through Storytelling, Culture, and Art

    By Aaluk Edwardson, Maleah Wenzel, Sabena Allen, Shelbi Fitzpatrick and Melody Brown Burkins

  15. Many a Little Makes a Mickle: Coastal Studies Students and Staff Take Action Against Marine Litter

    By Catherine Chambers and Astrid Fehling

  16. Our Plastic Ocean, Our Clean Ocean: Art as a Catalyst to Build Understanding

    By Herminia Din

  17. Worlds in Motion – The National Museums of World Culture, Sustainability and the Future

    By Sofie Öberg Magnusson and Martin Schultz

  18. Voluntourism in the Faroe Islands: A Sustainable Nordic Tourism Model

    By Jonathan Wood

  19. Northern Nursing Students Raising Awareness and Spreading Knowledge on Climate Actions

    By Kathie Pender, Donald Leidl and Bente Norbye

  20. Smart Societies and Arctic Sustainability: Opportunities and Challenges

    By Nadezda Nazarova, Evgenii Aleksandrov and Anatoli Bourmistrov

  21. Shortening the Time from Observing to Decision-making in the Arctic

    By Olivia Lee and Finn Danielsen

  22. “Breath of the North”: A Literary Portrait of Jean Malaurie

    By Jan Borm

  23. Climate Change – Key Challenge of Arctic Herders’ Livelihoods and Cultures

    By Alena Gerasimova, Svetlana Avelova, Mikhail Pogodaev, Anatoly Zhozhikov, Anders Oskal and Svein D. Mathiesen

  24. Alumni Testimonials from the Model Arctic Council

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