Norway and Canada: Developing Collaboration on Adaptation and Vulnerability Studies

The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) has shown that the climate and natural environment of the Arctic is more variable and is changing more rapidly and more dramatically than anywhere else in the world. It recommends three priority areas for future studies in the Arctic: regional impacts, socioeconomic impacts, and vulnerabilities to climate and environmental change. Of key importance are the links between these areas: that is, how changes in the physical environment interact with changes in econom ic and societal conditions, and how these interactions affect the adaptation and vulnerability of communities. International collaboration on developing a robust and widely applicable conceptual framework for studying adaptation and vulnerability is imper ative. This proposal seeks funding for a workshop to initiate a long-term collaboration between CICERO, Norway, and the University of Guelph, Canada. The Workshop will: * Initiate the development of a common conceptual framework for studying adaptation and vulnerability. * Identify the most salient research objectives and research questions at the most appropriate sites in Arctic Canada and Norway. * Identify relevant communities and stakeholder groups to be involved in the research project * Identi fy relevant funding sources * Develop a strategy for a pan-Arctic collaboration The workshop will result in a coordinated research proposal that can be submitted to relevant funding agencies and programs in Norway and Canada. The project will be closely linked to the forthcoming social science efforts of the International Polar Year 2007/8, under the human dimension themes, and it will involve community and stakeholder cooperation. International collaboration and network building, as well as developing international collaborative research on studies of adaptation and vulnerability to environmental and climate change, are key elements of CICEROs Strategic Plan 2003/07.