News | Study of Environmental Arctic Change
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One of SEARCH’s graduate research fellows at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Imane Darkaoui is on-site participating in COP30. After a logistically challenging journey from Monterey, California, to Belém, Brazil, earlier this week, Amany’s first report from COP30 has arrived. _____ The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the annual meeting for all the parties…
What Is COP? COP is the “Conference of the Parties,” an annual United Nations summit where world leaders, diplomats, scientists, and other stakeholders gather to address climate change issues. The “Parties” refer to the 198 countries (plus the European Union) that have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a treaty adopted…
Slushy sidewalks, falling flakes, and brisk breezes indicate April’s late-winter tendrils are yet to relinquish Anchorage from their grasps. None of it freezes folks in their footsteps. Over 1,000 people from many corners of the globe have traveled to Alaska’s metropolis for the 10th anniversary Arctic Encounter Symposium (AES), North America’s largest Arctic policy and…
SEARCH Highlights: How we're working together to share what we know
The Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in western Alaska is one of the world’s most important wetlands for migratory birds and home to the largest Indigenous population in the U.S. Arctic. New research shows that sea-level rise, sea-ice loss, stronger storms, erosion, and permafrost thaw are working together in unexpected ways—driving rapid, landscape-scale transformations across the delta.…
SEARCH has published a new peer-reviewed policy brief in Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (AAAR), emphasizing the escalating food security crisis in Yukon River communities of Alaska and Canada where decades of salmon decline have intersected with management systems ill-equipped for today’s environmental and social realities. The article, “Food security crisis in the Yukon River…
SEARCH’s reading group has re-invigorated its sessions, kicking off with a vibrant discussion of the paper “Accelerating Transformations for a Just, Sustainable Future: 10 Must Haves” on November 26th. Conceptualized by The Earth League and participants of the Global Futures Conference, this paper outlines a framework for bridging the gap between global pledges and actionable…
For Indigenous communities in the Western Arctic’s Bering and Chukchi seas, Pacific walrus stand as integral components to cultural and nutritional well being. As sea ice conditions continue to change, however, these communities’ access to walrus is challenged. A new Arctic Answers policy brief written by a diverse group of SEARCH researchers was published this…
Building on decades of marine ecology and environmental leadership experience, SEARCH co-Principal Investigator Francis Wiese is starting a new position as Senior Scholar at the National Academies of Sciences (NAS). Alongside his existing work co-leading SEARCH’s International Cooperation and Economic Decision-Making team, Francis will be helping frame and implement a vision and strategy for the…
The Arctic hosts an intricate web of biodiversity. Seals, walruses, and whales roam the frigid ocean waves. Bears, moose, and a variety of plants and fungi sprawl through boreal forest while snowy owls, foxes, and caribou make the grasses and flowers of the tundra their home. Yet, with climate change and human activities making the…
Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer’s designs dazzled a crowd of cheering hundreds during April’s Far North Fashion Show in Anchorage. An annual showpiece of the Arctic Encounter Symposium, the event features Alaska Native models and designers from across the state. Jackie—SEARCH Co-Principal Investigator and Director of Climate Initiatives at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium—is a pillar…
Nine diverse voices spoke to the increasing severity of Arctic and boreal wildland fire at the 10th anniversary Arctic Encounter Symposium last week. In a session convened by SEARCH Research & Program Management Fellow Alex Shahbazi and Co-Principal Investigator Francis Wiese, these voices presented three-minute lightning lenses on northern wildfire topics including human health, global…
SEARCH recently participated in a unique sharing of science in the middle of a wintery Bering Sea. In the midst of high winds and blizzards, several ARC NAV colleagues traveled to Gambell, Alaska—a Yupik village on St. Lawrence Island—to host a community science symposium. Originally proposed by the ARC NAV team’s research consultant in the community, the…
SEARCH presented its ongoing examination into walrus accessibility in the Bering and Chukchi seas to the Eskimo Walrus Commission (EWC) in December 2023. A collaboration between academic, Indigenous, and policy researchers, the project aims to better understand and respond to the impacts of environmental change on hunters’ access to walruses across western Alaska and eastern…