“The Embassy’s collaboration with A.U. is a great way of interacting with students and faculty," said Jannicke Jaeger, Head of Communications at the Norwegian Embassy. "The annual essay competition gives us the opportunity to have a dialogue on important international issues, such as how we as a global community respond to climate change. By sending two A.U. students to Norway each year, we contribute to deepening the strong U.S.-Norwegian relations.”
The Prize
All current American University and Washington College of Law undergraduates and graduate students are eligible.
The two winners of the competition will travel to Oslo, where they will join the Nansen Conference on Climate Change and Displacement in the 21st Century, June 5–7 (www.nansenconference.no). They will also travel by train to the lovely city of Bergen on the North Sea coast for sightseeing and additional meetings with peers and professional contacts.
Covered expenses include round trip airfare from Washington, D.C. to Oslo, domestic lodging for four nights, conference registration, internal transportation, and a per diem. Winners will have opportunities to further their own research agendas through meetings to be arranged in consultation with the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Winners are encouraged to extend their stays as long as they wish and will receive help finding inexpensive lodging and making additional contacts.
The Essay
As polar ice caps melt, seas rise, and floods and droughts become commonplace, climate migration and the conflicts associated with it are increasing. Displaced populations pose fresh challenges for policy makers and ethicists. Please write an essay of no more than 8 single spaced pages on one of the following topics:
1) The imagined diary of someone whose homeland is experiencing climate changes so dramatic that the person is forced to move. Please describe the physical changes in the landscape and convey the person’s decision-making process and available options. The diary should cover multiple days.
2) A policy brief from a professional to the government of a country expected to experience an inflow of climate refugees. Be sure to discuss the ethical, legal, and security dimensions to be considered.
Submission Guidelines
The deadline for submissions is midnight Friday, February 11. Essays should be emailed to Nicholas.Stivang@mfa.no. Selection will be made through a “blind” competition judged by Global Environmental Politics faculty and Embassy of Norway personnel. Winners will be announced at a public event and reception at SIS on Tuesday, March 29.