Policy Brief Arctic Freshwater Capital In The Nordic Countries

Current indicators of economic growth (e.g., GDP) do not adequately consider sustainability, while environmental indicators alone fail to acknowledge the economic needs of a society. Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) can be the tool that fills the gap separating current economic and environmental indicators but development and adoption remains uneven across the Nordic region. This policy brief provides background on NCA and its associated accounting frameworks, demonstrates the applicability of NCA for sustainably utilizing freshwater resources in the Nordic Arctic and provides recommendations for maximizing the value of environmental accounting as an economic, environmental, and sustainable development tool.

Current indicators of economic growth (e.g., GDP) do not adequately consider sustainability, while environmental indicators alone fail to acknowledge the economic needs of a society. Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) can be the tool that fills the gap separating current economic and environmental indicators. Development of NCA has progressed considerably and is being widely deployed in the Nordic countries, but development and deployment remain uneven. This report provides background on NCA and its associated accounting frameworks, demonstrates the applicability of NCA for sustainably utilizing freshwater resources in the Nordic Arctic and provides recommendations for maximizing the value of environmental accounting as an economic, environmental, and sustainable development tool.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/nord2023-017/ The 6th Nordic Conference on Climate Change Adaptation, NOCCA23, took place in Reykjavik, Iceland in April 2023. The focus of the conference was on ways to accelerate mainstreaming of adaptation at the municipal level in the Nordics. Four themes were studied: sea level rise, transboundary climate risks, nature-based solutions, and local master planning. The conference explored the current state of adaptation as well as actions implemented in the Nordic countries and the challenges, opportunities, and learnings from the implementation process. The role of different actors was discussed, and how engagement with the community is paramount to success. Finally, the role of the Nordic Council in accelerating adaptation measures within the Nordic region and beyond was discussed. The results have been summarized into a policy brief capturing the thrust of the discussion of the conference.

The Arctic has often been seen as a natural area, or even a “wilderness”, where mainly indigenous and subsistence activities have been prominent. Contrary to this, the present volume highlights the very long historical development of resource use systems in northern Europe, across multiple actors and multiple levels, and including varying population groups. The book takes a past-present-future perspective that illustrates the paths to institutional emergence, change or persistence over time. It also illustrates how institutions may themselves drive changes, through a focus on resource use cases in northern Europe. This volume demonstrates that understanding “northern” issues is less about understanding sets of geophysical, climatological or environmental conditions than about understanding social and institutional structures. Understanding these trajectories into the future is seen as a key way of understanding what responses to future change may be likely and what the institutions are that will shape, limit or enable our responses to climate change. This book will be of great use to scholars and graduates in the fields of Arctic and northern-region politics, and to researchers of resource use and climate change with a focus on vulnerability, social vulnerability, adaptation and mitigation.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2022-541/ Climate impacts hit us directly as e.g. floods and forest fires, but also cascade over borders. How can we address these transboundary climate risks (TCRs)? To answer this, the Nordic Council of Ministers commissioned a study. As open economies, the Nordics can be exposed to TCRs. Some key trade partners have medium (e.g. China) or even high (e.g. India) risk. The study dove deeper into six food commodities. For example, climate change affects sources of maize negatively, with risks outweighing opportunities by 28:1. This can mean higher prices or disturbances in supplies. The Nordics are better prepared than most others, but not well enough. There are also important differences among them. The report makes recommendations on how Nordics can better address TCRs together. These include a joint research programme, raising awareness and engaging with the private sector.

The Arctic-Barents Region is facing numerous pressures from a variety of sources, including the effect of environmental changes and extractive industrial developments. The threats arising out of these pressures result in human security challenges. This book analyses the formation, and promotion, of societal security within the context of the Arctic-Barents Region. It applies the human security framework, which has increasingly gained currency at the UN level since 1994 (UNDP), as a tool to provide answers to many questions that face the Barents population today. The study explores human security dimensions such as environmental security, economic security, health, food, water, energy, communities, political security and digital security in order to assess the current challenges that the Barents population experiences today or may encounter in the future. In doing so, the book develops a comprehensive analysis of vulnerabilities, challenges and needs in the Barents Region and provides recommendations for new strategies to tackle insecurity and improve the wellbeing of both indigenous and local communities. This book will be a valuable tool for academics, policy-makers and students interested in environmental and human security, sustainable development, environmental studies and the Arctic and Barents Region in particular.

From a comparative studies point of view, this book explores different aspects of environmental efforts in Nordic countries. These efforts are described and analyzed in terms of their political and administrative outfit and policy content.