Forums
Arctic Wetland Dynamics in Finland

Hi Carol,

I'll be sure to say hello to Megan for you when I see her again on Saturday morning. Her mom's booth is just down the street from my wife's. :)

I had a recent conversation with a student of mine regarding the international nature of the Arctic; similar to your thoughts after leaving the Lapland museum. I have a poster of the Arctic (the one from PolarTREC training) hung up on my classroom door and she commented on how neat it was to see the Earth was such a different perspective. I, of course, agreed!

Anyway, from what is written in this report, it sounds like the Arctic could become a whole lot more international, and continue to be perceived in a new light, as the sea ice continues to decline:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/world/europe/arctic-council-adds-six-members-including-china.html?_r=0

Have you had any chances to learn about specific collaborations between indigenous peoples of Finland and scientists of Finland towards sustainable development of natural resources in the Arctic? I'd love to hear about some and share them in my IB Environmental Science class if you find out about any. The quote about these kinds of collaborations in your journal picture is awesome.

Looking forward to the PolarConnect Event next week! Jamie

Fri, 06/07/2013 - 13:11

Carol Scott

Hi Jamie - thanks for the comments and question. I totally spaced thefact that observer status has been granted to six more nations: China,
India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. That happened just
before I left for Finland. Thanks for posting that link, I recommend it
to others, although you may have to type the title of the article
'Arctic Council Adds 6 Nations As Observer States' into the search box
at the top of the page that comes up, as the link itself did not go all
the way to the article for some reason. I would also recommend to
others reading the 'Great Game' link within this article, which takes
you to the op-ed piece called 'Hands Across the Melting Ice.' Both
articles were published this past May. Pretty amazing that 4 cargo
ships traversed the Northern Passage in 2010, whereas 46 went through in
2012!
I have not come across any science research collaborations with the Sami
in Finland. However, I did take a quick look at the University of
Lapland's webpage, and found this link to their Sami related research:
I
have not had a chance to investigate further yet.
Hope to talk to you and your students next Thursday!
Carol