Climate change is creating both challenges and opportunities for economic development in the Arctic. Leaders from various sectors will present and discuss their perspectives regarding how Canada can position itself to take advantage of these opportunities while at the same time preparing for the challenges. Infrastructure such as rail lines, deep water ports; regional and international trade; tourism; and development of renewable and non renewable resources will be considered. Participation with the audience will highlight the role of science in the preparation for Arctic economic development at both the local and international levels.
Mr. Murad Al-Katib, Arctic Gateway
Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot, Observatoire de la politique et la securite de l’Arctique (CIRRIQ)
Mayor Michael Spence, Town of Churchill
Mayor Simionie Sammurtok, Hamlet of Chesterfield Inlet
Anna is the Head of the newly founded National Knowledge Centre on Climate Change Adaptation at the Icelandic Met office. She is an enthusiastic environmentalist with a passion for data and system modeling. She has a PhD in Industrial Engineering, specialized in system dynamics. Prior to her current position she was an adjunkt at the University of Iceland and was very active in both research and publishing scientific papers. She was a work package leader in a H2020 research project called LOCOMOTION (Low-carbon society: an enhanced modelling tool for the transition to sustainability) in a workpackage focused on the technical and biophysical system modelling.
Halldór has been the Chair of the Icelandic Climate Council since 2018. He served as senior director at the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) in Bonn for fourteen years (2004-2018). His responsibilities included managing substantive support to international climate negotiations culminating in the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015. In that capacity he also contributed to the conception of the global climate action agenda and managed the interface with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
As a climate negotiator for Iceland, Halldór had served as the Chair of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) for a two-year term. He holds a Ph.D. in Plant Ecophysiology from Utah State University.
Karen Alley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environment and Geography and the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba. She uses satellite remote sensing, drones, and field data to study ice-ocean interaction on Antarctica’s Ice Shelves and glacier change in the Baffin Bay region of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland.
Climate change is creating both challenges and opportunities for economic development in the Arctic. Leaders from various sectors will present and discuss their perspectives regarding how Canada can position itself to take advantage of these opportunities while at the same time preparing for the challenges. Infrastructure such as rail lines, deep water ports; regional and international trade; tourism; and development of renewable and non renewable resources will be considered. Participation with the audience will highlight the role of science in the preparation for Arctic economic development at both the local and international levels.
Mr. Murad Al-Katib, Arctic Gateway
Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot, Observatoire de la politique et la securite de l’Arctique (CIRRIQ)
Mayor Michael Spence, Town of Churchill
Mayor Simionie Sammurtok, Hamlet of Chesterfield Inlet
Interested in updates on the conference?
Contact email: cryosphere2020@vedur.is