The Role of Science Diplomacy:A Historical Development and International Legal Framework of Arctic Research Stations under Conditions of Climate Change Post-Cold War Geopolitics and Globalization/Power Transition

• Published in: Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences
• Main Authors: Goodsite, Michael Evan, Bertelsen, Rasmus Gjedssø, Cassotta, Sandra, Ren, Jingzheng, Watt, Lize-Marie van der, Jóhannsson, Halldór
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change; Alaska
• Online Access: https://vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/2a5f40b8-d1ea-4f40-b67c-4077cddaf8ee; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-015-0329-6

The Arctic is an indicator of climatic change. This brings opportunities and challenges as the warming climate may facilitate greater harvesting of natural resources. The triadic nexus between globalization, climate change and geopolitics is shaping the future of the Arctic and will bring considerable opportunity at national, regional, and global level which will open a call for a global multi-stakeholder approach. As the ice melts and geopolitics shift, the Arctic is also transformed from a regulatory perspective. Sometimes this transformation is opaque. Research infrastructures (research stations both military and non-military, observation and monitoring networks) are opening access and data to new Arctic and non-Arctic players. Additional logistics hubs than those already existing are and should be established. Countries are sustaining and building new research as well as search and rescue bases/stations. Stations can be used as indicator of this transformation as well as their implications to improve cooperation, engage in multilateral rather than unilateral actions to protect the Arctic infrastructures and to improve military capabilities. These actions have started to attract also non-Arctic actors, such as China and the EU, which are developing new policies. Stations may not be developed and maintained only for the purpose of the scientific understanding of climatic and environmental impacts but also for function as entities that legitimize national or sovereign claims. At the triadic nexus are the scientists that utilize the research bases and their international colleagues. Arctic/Northern bases are primarily military for historical reasons and for reasons of logistics and expertise, as historically indicated through the American presence in Alaska. This is not the same as saying the bases are militarized - or part of some national militarization strategy in the Arctic. New steps to identify the role of stations at national, regional and global level are needed. In this essay we explore the implications ...