The European Commission is interested in listening to the views of Arctic stakeholders – those actors who influence and are affected by changes occurring in the region. Therefore, the EU has allocated EUR 1 million for a project aimed at compiling different perspectives on Arctic developments and EU’s role in the Arctic and producing an EU Arctic Impact Assessment Report.
As a part of this assessment work, some 60 stakeholders mainly from Lapland and other parts of Finland but also from the Northern Fennoscandia and from international organizations will gather in Rovaniemi on October 3, 2013. A general discussion on the Arctic change will be followed by focused workshops. The themes cover important trends and developments that are changing the Arctic today, with focus given this time to terrestrial issues: climate change, mining, land use pressures and socio-cultural changes.
In the workshops the stakeholders will discuss critical factors for the EU decision-making in the Arctic and brainstorm recommendations. The project has produced factsheet on various themes related to the Arctic which will serve as background for dialogue with stakeholders.
This is the first of two stakeholder consultation meetings organized within an EU-funded project ‘
Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of development of the Arctic’. Second meeting, focusing on maritime developments, will be held in Tromsø, Norway, on January 22, 2014. In addition, the input from stakeholders is collected via an interactive
project website.
The project led by the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland is paving way for the possible establishment of the EU Arctic Information Centre. The international network preparing the initiative also has its meeting in Rovaniemi this week.
During 2014, the results from the preparatory project ‘
Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of development of the Arctic’, including the EU Arctic Impact Assessment Report, will be handed over to the European Commission and published.
More information:
Professor Paula Kankaanpää
Director of the Arctic Centre
paula.kankaanpaa (at) ulapland.fi
Tel. +358 40 777 7825
Researcher Adam Stepien
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
adam.stepien (at) ulapland.fi
Tel. +358 40 484 4298
The preparatory project 'Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of development of the Arctic'
The European Union Arctic Information Centre initiative
ULapland / Arctic Centre / JL