UArctic Chair co‑organizes side event as part of the Launch of the Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences
At UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 19 March 2026, Kamrul Hossain, representing the UArctic Chair in Arctic Legal Research and Education and the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, played a leading role in Side Event 11, “Inter-Polar Dialogue on People, Glaciers, and Climate,” held as part of the closing events of the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation and the launching of the Decade of Actions for Cryosphere Sciences (2025-2024).
Hossain emphasized the urgent need to connect the Arctic and the Third Pole – the Hindu Kush Himalaya through integrated scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems.
The event was co-organized by an international consortium that included the Arctic Centre, the UArctic Chair, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Polar Educators International, the Asian Indigenous International Network, and the Asian Mountain Academic Alliance, among others.
Discussions focused on common glacier-related risks across regions and emphasized the need for enhanced global collaboration. Hossain highlighted that the loss of glaciers is a crisis driven by human impacts, requiring coordinated scientific, policy, and community efforts worldwide.