Climate change adaptation team charts perilous state of the Arctic

Two major reports were released this week in which Arctic research by Professor James Ford, Priestley Chair in Climate Change and Adaptation, and researchers from his team feature strongly.

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s report, The Changing Arctic, published on 29 November, assesses the relevance of Arctic change to the UK, and examines the sufficiency of UK policy and research focusing on the region. Building on oral evidence given by Prof Ford in July 2018, the Priestley team’s community based research and studies assess the current state of knowledge, underpinning a call to scale up social science and interdisciplinary Arctic research in the UK.

On the same day, in Canada, the Senate’s Report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans When Every Minute Counts assesses maritime search and rescue in Canada, and makes a number of recommendations for the Arctic, rooted in the team’s longstanding focus on emergency response and testimony given by Dylan Clark to Senate in the Spring.