The three-day conference, titled “Arctic Meltdown – Global Effects,” was organized by the Norwegian Research, Innovation, and Higher Education Forum in the United States, and highlighted the need to strengthen research bonds across the Atlantic, in order to better meet the challenges posed by climate change in the Arctic region.
Scientists and policymakers from both sides of the Atlantic attended the event.
“The U.S. has kept its role as Norway’s most important R&D collaborator,” Arvid Hallén, the director of the Research Council of Norway, said in his opening remarks.
“For Norway, this represents a linkage to the region of the strongest scientific research, and the most important topics are global change, energy, food, citizens, and government,” Hallén said. Hallén highlighted bio-energy, aquaculture, nanotechnology, and information and communications technology as priority areas for collaboration in the future.
“The strategy is to maintain research excellence and industrial innovation in these areas,” he said.
Keynote speakers Robert M. Berdahl, the president of the Association of American Universities, and Peter Agre, the vice chancellor of Science and Technology at Duke University, addressed the urgency of understanding global warming as an international challenge.
“The development of countries and the release of greenhouse gases have led to an international problem,” Berdahl said. Understanding global warming requires the intersection of research and international collaboration because of the global scope of the problem, he stressed.
In his speech, Agre recalled a recent canoe trip to Thelon in the Canadian wilderness, noting the highly variable temperatures, intense bugs, and UV radiation he experienced, as well as the lush grass and berries characteristic of the sub-Arctic. “It is a very fragile, although bio-diverse ecosystem and minor changes can have disastrous consequences,” he warned.
Ambassador Knut Vollebaek spoke on the occasion, emphasizing the importance of continual improvements in the area of climate research, and the role of space research.
“The combination of the upcoming International Polar Year, the Norwegian chairmanship of the Arctic Council, and the meltdown of the Arctic make this year’s theme particularly relevant,” the ambassador said.