Paper short abstract:

ARMNET is about linking Risk Management Practitioners and Researchers across the Arctic Regions of Canada, Russia, and Alaska to improve Risk, Emergency and Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation through comparative analysis and applied research using participatory and community based approaches.

Paper long abstract:

The Arctic Risk Management Network (ARMNet) was conceived as a trans-disciplinary hub to encourage and facilitate greater exchange among American, Russian, and Canadian academics and practitioners engaged in the research, management and mitigation of risks, emergencies and disasters in the Arctic regions. A Historical Ecology theory drives the trans-disciplinary methods and participatory action research to develop and implement ARMNet among Arctic communities, organizations, corporations, scientists, and emergency managers. The introductory paper considers the following: 1. As a North Slope Borough Risk Management initiative, the collaborative aspects of a network are reviewed with a focus on cooperation and inter-operability across regional and local jurisdictions. 2. The content and results of the feasibility study among American, Russian and Canadian Emergency Managers in 2015 are summarized which was funded from the US Embassy in Ottawa and Moscow. The funding allowed presentations at conferences, a community based case study of a comparative disaster event, and a survey about a. a needs assessment and b. the feasible activities among Arctic researchers and practitioners as a network. 3. The acknowledgement that a research to practice gap exists due to public policy and fiscal constraints. and 4. Facilitation teams of researchers, who work with practitioners, is proposed to bridge the gap. 5. An applied Research Coordinator Network (RCN) is progressing which will develop the features of ARMNet. Interested Arctic or disaster researchers are needed for the RCN!

Paper short abstract:

Communities in the circumpolar Arctic are experiencing increased risk due rapid environmental and related social change and are monitoring their environment through community-based initiatives. Resulting data are being shared as part of a global data ecosystem and risk reduction network.

Paper long abstract:

Communities in the circumpolar Arctic are experiencing increased risk due rapid environmental and related social change. Local community based monitoring programs, often based on Indigenous knowledge, are an important component of the comprehensive knowledge and monitoring system required to reduce risk related to disasters and extreme events.

The Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic's (ELOKA) mission is to provide data management and user support services to facilitate the collection, exchange, use and preservation of local observations and knowledge of the Arctic. Over the course of our projects, we have worked with partners to develop a modular, component-based system that is designed to enable cross-disciplinary research in physical and social sciences. The system is being leveraged to enable data access through easy to use interfaces as well as supporting interoperable data exchange and long-term archiving. End users can explore data using a variety of interactive, multimodal tools. Interactive maps allow users to visualize geographic data while at the same time linking to associated multimedia that provides an extended view and understanding of environment, society and risk.

Underlying the technical systems is a network of community members, Indigenous organizations, and researchers who are working together to understand how to develop interoperable systems in a way that respects community priorities. These activities are part of an emerging global set of standards and specifications and a "data ecosystem" that will be broadly useful to all actors in the Arctic and beyond.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation will examine both the loss of cultural heritage and the responses, as well as the loss of paleo-environmental archaeological archives which can help with reducing risk future disasters from contexts around the Arctic Ocean and its marginal seas.

Paper long abstract:

Arctic archaeological sites have exceptional organic preservation thanks to the frozen environment in which they were deposited and have remained. These sites archive the residues of human subsistence activities, in stratified layers, often spanning millennia. These remains are unique sources of data on past ecosystems that can be used to track environmental change through time, and to correlate those changes with possible drivers, including natural catastrophes, providing critical information to managers of fisheries or wildlife and to those whose food security depends on successful harvesting of wild foods.

Some sites contain evidence of past natural disasters which directly affected the inhabitants. They can be powerful tools to educate local populations about the possibility of repeat occurrences, particularly valuable for low-frequency events. This can help motivate people to make some preparations, thus greatly reducing future risks.

Arctic sites have been considered stable, but climate change has altered the situation. As the ground warms, factors leading to decay of organic materials have more opportunity to act. Coastal sites are threatened by thawing permafrost, longer exposure to open water and waves, and rapidly increasing erosion. Loss rates of tens of meters per year have been recorded, sometimes in a single storm. These losses are experienced as disasters by community members. This presentation will examine both the loss of cultural heritage and the responses, as well as the loss of paleo-environmental archaeological archives which can help with reducing risk future disasters from contexts around the Arctic Ocean and its marginal seas.

Paper short abstract:

What are the de-facto means of isolated arctic communities to deal with disasters? This study examines alternatives to governmental support that is often lacking and puts special focus on cross-border/region community-based collaboration to create micro-environments of DRR&R.

Paper long abstract:

Arctic countries' northern communities tend to be isolated both geographically and politically, limiting the per capita DRR&R resources despite the significant environmental conditions and disaster risks that Arctic local communities are confronted with. At the same time, the realities on the ground and academic/non-academic literature increasingly point to the difficulties of governments/institutions to adequately respond to (complex and unforeseen) disasters - rendering the default solution of counting on institutional and governmental response unreliable. This paper proposes to study and analyze paradiplomacy as an alternative DRR&R tool at the community level. Complex interdependencies and the cascading nature of disasters through factors such as infrastructure or harmed supply chains emphasizes the need for DRR&R collaboration between communities. While paradiplomacy initiatives have the potential to work around the above-mentioned limitations and the ability to minimize disasters' harm, the possibility of bypassing government might also lead to unintended consequences. Through qualitatively surveying paradiplomacy relations between Arctic communities in Western Russia, Norway and Finland (where the population is dense in Arctic terms), initial interviews with key stakeholders and the use of Causal-Loop-Diagrams, we learn about and model the significance of paradiplomacy as a tool of community-based DRR&R but also its potential negative outcomes. This paper's goal is to reach initial but practical conclusions regarding the level of paradiplomacy activities and their effectiveness as a community-based tool in reducing disaster vulnerability and improving the ability to respond to disasters in the harsh Arctic climate, when governmental and institutional help might be limited or unavailable.