Royal Colloquium - Arctic Under Stress

Volume 35, Issue 4 (June 2006)

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment

Article: pp. 212–212 | PDF (43K)

Royal Colloquium 30 May 2005–1 June 2005.Arctic Under Stress

Dan Brändström

Bank of Sweden, Tercentenary Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden

In Summary

Mine is the almost impossible task of rounding up and leading the closing discussion of the Carl XVI Gustaf Royal Colloquium 2005. This task is a real challenge after a day filled with excellent presentations by all the contributors and many lively discussions.

As one of the few social scientists at the colloquium, my thoughts have often turned to the questions of how we can incorporate and increase interdisciplinary work to include social and cultural issues within the important scientific fields dealt with by the colloquium. After listening to Ronny Lumeau, Minister of the Environment for the Seychelles, I became even more convinced that the topic of this colloquium is closely linked to the culture and social welfare of humankind.

Within the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, I have a group that deals with culture, security, and sustainable development. To date, we have discussed questions that relate to cultural conflicts and foreign and security issues. However, during the colloquium, I have realized that more dimensions must be added to the foundation's mission.

His Majesty opened the colloquium by pointing out that water is life and life is water and that freshwater plays an important role in the future of human livelihoods, in addition to the importance of water for the global climate system.

The scarcity of freshwater and climate change have been the focus of the colloquium discussions. The presentations by Robert Corell and Will Steffen set the scene with important facts and figures. Robert Correll pointed out that we must address how human beings and nature can work together, and Will Steffens said, “We can choose the nature of our climate in the future.” What can we do with these facts and figures? It is easy to be pessimistic. David Schindler ended his talk with an overhead that stated, “The world can tell us everything we want to know. The only problem is that it does not have a voice. But the world's indicators are there. They are always talking to us.”

Ronny Jumeau demonstrated very clearly in his important speech how a small island can be seen as a barometer that shows us the health of the world. Oysten Dahle pointed out our responsibilities to our grandchildren by stating, “We are the first generation to deal with unpaid bills and the last generation who can do anything.” Natalie Davydova put her hope in the younger generation and the northern countries to be involved in more creative dialogues. Both a youth assembly and a council of wise women and men could perhaps make a difference.

Olli Varis demonstrated that arctic countries are in a much better position than monsoon countries to tackle contemporary problems. He ended his presentation by indicating the extent of the challenges, the controversies, and the unknowns. These very interesting facts were rounded off by Rolph Payet, who described the links between the Arctic and tropical biodiversity and the consequences of a melting Arctic for tropical small islands.

How do we communicate these facts and the knowledge that has been accumulated to society and, in particular, to politicians? What are the responsibilities of the research community? We, the colloquium participants, who have had the opportunity and the privilege to obtain new insights, cannot, as was stated in graffiti on a bridge pillar, “Cancel the future, due to lack of interest.” We must share our interest with others. But how? Can we start today and continue tomorrow?

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

• His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf, Royal Court of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden

• Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Victoria, Royal Court of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden

• His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Frederik, Court of the Crown Prince, Christian VIII's Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark

• Dr. Will Steffen, Bureau of Rural Sciences, Australian Government, Canberra, Australia

• Professor Dan Brändström, The Bank of Sweden, Tercentenary Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden

• County Governor Per Ola Eriksson, County Administrative Board of Norrbotten, Luleå, Sweden

• Mr. Ronny Jumeau, Ministry of the Environment, Republic of Seychelles

• Dr. Robert W. Corell, Senior Research Fellow, Grasonville, MD, USA

• Mr. Öystein Dahle, Styreleder, Worldwatch Institute Norden, Norway

• Professor Oleg Anisimov, State Hydrological Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia

• Professor Terry Callaghan, Abisko Scientific Research Station, Abisko, Sweden

• Professor David Schindler, Department of Biological Sciences, Alberta, Canada

• Dr. Rolph Payet, Ministry of the Environment, Republic of Seychelles

• Dr. Olli Varis, Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland

• Captain Anders Wikström, Söråker, Sweden

• Mr. Peter Hanneberg, Environmental Journalist/Author, Nacka, Sweden

• Ms. Natalie Davydova, Director, Environmental Projects Consulting, Institute, Moscow, Russia

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

• Professor Anders Karlqvist, Polarforskningssekretariatet, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden

• Dr. Elisabeth Kessler, Ambio, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden