The 6th annual Academy seminar TULOS took place in Tampere on 6-7th of June. This year theme was “The Future of Learning, Knowledge and Skills”. The seminar’s programme can be found here.
Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen gave there a presentation titled “Arktisten kaupunkien
kestävyyden mittaaminen” (Measuring the sustainability of Arctic towns), where he presented Arctic PIRE project. The presentation is available online.
On 18-20 of May a Second Pan-Eurasian Experiment Science Conference took place in Beijing, China. The conference attracted a large number of experts from all over the world, and Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen was one of them. He participated in the session “From Society to Knowledge Transfer and International Collaboration” with a presentation titled “Russian climate policies and local reality”.
Conference programme and information can be found here.
An open access scientific journal, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene published a new co-authored by Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen article “Arctic air pollution: Challenges and opportunities for the next decade”.
The Arctic is a sentinel of global change. This region is influenced by multiple physical and socio-economic drivers and feedbacks, impacting both the natural and human environment. Air pollution is one such driver that impacts Arctic climate change, ecosystems and health but significant uncertainties still surround quantification of these effects. Arctic air pollution includes harmful trace gases (e.g. tropospheric ozone) and particles (e.g. black carbon, sulphate) and toxic substances (e.g. polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) that can be transported to the Arctic from emission sources located far outside the region, or emitted within the Arctic from activities including shipping, power production, and other industrial activities. This paper qualitatively summarizes the complex science issues motivating the creation of a new international initiative, PACES (air Pollution in the Arctic: Climate, Environment and Societies). Approaches for coordinated, international and interdisciplinary research on this topic are described with the goal to improve predictive capability via new understanding about sources, processes, feedbacks and impacts of Arctic air pollution. Overarching research actions are outlined, in which we describe our recommendations for 1) the development of trans-disciplinary approaches combining social and economic research with investigation of the chemical and physical aspects of Arctic air pollution; 2) increasing the quality and quantity of observations in the Arctic using long-term monitoring and intensive field studies, both at the surface and throughout the troposphere; and 3) developing improved predictive capability across a range of spatial and temporal scales.
The article is available at the journal website.
Government’s analysis, assessment and research activities published a new policy brief “Finland’s Journey towards the Forefront of Responsible Arctic Development – Recommendations” by MERMAID-project researchers.
This Policy Brief presents an executive summary of the recommendations and measures for Finland’s journey toward responsible Arctic development, as identified in the MERMAID-project. The focus is on general issues and business, with a special focus on the maritime cluster and tourism sector. Furthermore, the Policy Brief contains a summary of the future scenarios constructed during the project. The consequences of the recommendations, the conditions for successful implementation, and risks have been analysed with respect to these scenarios.
MERMAID is part of the implementation of the 2014 Government plan for analysis, assessment and research.
Read the policy brief in English or in Finnish.
The latest issue of Idäntutkimus was published last month and is devoted to the Arctic. Several researchers of our team have contributed to the issue. Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen wrote an editorial titled “Venäjän arktisen uusi suunta?” (New direction of Russia’s Arctic?). Together with Daria Gritsenko he also co-authored an article “Arktinen Venäjän poliittisessa viestinnässä” (Arctic in Russian political communications). Hilma Salonen’s essay “Venäjän arktinen energia – tavoitteita ja realiteetteja” (Russian Arctic energy – goals and reality) can be read here.
More information on the issue is available on the Idäntutkimus website.
Research recommendations on responsible development of the Arctic region
There are many ways to boost Finland’s Arctic expertise and opportunities for influence in international Arctic operations. The MERMAID project, coordinated by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, focused in particular on developing the maritime cluster and the tourism sector. The project’s final report was published on 7 March in the publication series of government analysis, assessment and research activities.
The report was commissioned with Finland’s Chairmanship of the Arctic Council in mind, which starts at the beginning of 2017. The final report includes recommendations and proposed action to strengthen Finland s Arctic expertise. It also analyses the role of Russia in the Arctic region.
The future of the Arctic region up to 2035 was examined by means of three different scenarios of the future. In the scenarios, the most important factors shaping the region were climate change and its impact on the conditions in the region, the geopolitical situation and the advancement of arctic technology. The report also took the global economy and global fossil fuel markets into account. The measures proposed in the report make it possible to develop the Arctic region responsibly and take all parties into consideration.
The recommendations for promoting the general development of the Arctic region range from climate change considerations to improving the status of the Sami to enhancing the management of research, business, investment and catastrophies.
– The unique environnment and culture of the Arctic region, for instance, which are under pressure from globalisation and climate change, must be safeguarded in the future. We must also make sure the region thrives. To this end, together with all parties we need to formulate a national vision on the future of the Arctic region and clear rules of play in the region that take everyone into account, observes Karoliina Pilli-Sihvola, researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
Read more information about the report here.
Listen to the new episode of Ykkösaamu radio programme titled “Öljyn hinta ennätysalhaalla” (Oil prices at a record low level), where Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen was one of the discussants. The programme is available at Yle Areena website.
Article “Russia’s climate policies and local reality” written by Liza Skryzhevska, Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, Simo Leppänen was published in the new volume of Polar Geography.
In their latest report, the IPCC acknowledges the importance of local governments in conducting climate change (CC) adaptation measures. However, the role of local governments has not been widely discussed in the CC policy literature. In this paper, we attempt to bridge this gap by utilizing the unique interview data from 14 Russian localities, the results of which revealed three key findings. First, the federal government of Russia recognizes the problem of CC, but due to budget constraints local authorities cannot implement adaptation actions in their regional planning. Second, only 2 of the 14 surveyed regions have a CC adaptation plan, while a few others incorporate some adaptation measures in their socio-economic development plans. Third, regions with notable agricultural, forestry and fishing sectors have experienced a more significant impact from CC on their economies, and most of the interviewed regional authorities perceived these effects as negative.
The article is available online.
“The Arctic Paradox and Russia’s Energy Policy / Arktinen paradoksi ja Venäjän energiapolitiikka” – the title of the new Aleksanteri Insight, published this month by the Aleksanteri Institute.
Through its use of the Arctic, Russia tries to fortify the idea that it is a global Energy
Superpower, writes Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen.
The paper is available in English in Finnish online.
University of Helsinki