INTAROS Project

From Pollen, in the harbour area of Arendal. Photo: Lisbeth Iversen During “Arendalsuka” 2019, the week from August 12 until August 17, I had the pleasure of beeing present in many seminars and debates. “Arendalsuka” is an independent initiative started in the city of Arendal in the south of Norway in order to contribute to political debate in public spaces in Norway. Many of the political leaders from the Government and the Norwegian Parliament take part, together with national, regional and local organizations, municipalities, Universities, research institutions, business actors, and inhabitants, including youth and children. In this blog post I will give some highlights from debates and seminars concerning Svalbard and the North, relevant to my work as a co-leader of the Horizon 2020 project INTAROS; Integrated Arctic Observation System work on Community Based Monitoring of the Arctic. The opening of the "Arendalsuka" 2019. Photo: Lisbeth Iversen Th

In May I had the possibility to go back to Longyerbyen, Svalbard, to present my work at the Arctic Safety Conference which took place at UNIS from 13 - 15 May. The work is part of my PhD and INTAROS Workpackage 4 on community-based observing programmes for participatory research and capacity-building. The topic of my presentation was:   Knowledge based planning, development and monitoring in the Arctic. Linking top-down with bottom-up approaches.   UNIS, Longyerbyen       Left: Ann Christin Auestad, Project Manager at Arctic Safety Center, and right: Harald Ellingsen, Managing Director at UNIS, opening the Arctic Safety Conference in Longyearbyen.      Pictures from the conference. Safety and risks involve people and local communities, especially in areas that are inhabited. This is also true for the Arctic region, where both indigenous people, and other settlements and communities are challenged by climate change and increased risks due to more