Events

The first Inter-Polar Conference: Connecting the Arctic with the Third Pole - the Hindu Kush Himalaya

From: 06.09.2023 to: 09.09.2023

The Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) are jointly organizing the first Inter-Polar Conference in collaboration with the UArctic Chairs in Arctic Legal Research and Education and the Law Thematic Network.

The Arctic and the Third Pole - the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, both contain important elements of the cryosphere. However, as temperatures in both regions are currently increasing, these areas are rapidly thawing, and several elements of the cryosphere are possibly at tipping points.

Changes in the cryosphere will have major impacts on local communities and ecosystems, and also lead to larger-scale changes: the rapid melting of the Himalayan glaciers and changes in snowpack will have significant regional effects related to the provision of water to a quarter of humanity, and the melting of cryosphere in the Arctic will contribute significantly to global sea level rise, affecting the 10% of humanity living within 10 metres of sea level, as well as global trade as docks and other infrastructure at sea level are affected.

The interlinked aspect of the cryosphere thaw and climate change has been evidenced as crucial in promoting polar science. However, the Arctic and Third Pole are almost always considered separately, demonstrating very little knowledge about the commonalities, links and differences between both regions, especially concerning geopolitical, sociocultural, environmental and legal dynamics of effects of and responses to these changes.

Objectives

-Discuss inter-polar perspectives from both the Arctic and the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, and scope out the possibilities of creating an inter-polar knowledge network bringing experts from both regions.

-Better understand climate change-driven impacts on the regions and help prepare scholars and stakeholders to develop an in-depth understanding of sustainability in both regions

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