Horizon Europe Grant agreement No 869383 https://vbn.aau.dk/da/projects/arctic-biodiversity-change-and-its-consequences-assessing-monitor

Rikke Becker Jacobsen: WP co-lead

ECOTIP investigates the link between the physical and biological systems, where a regional change in the hydrography of the Arctic seas might trigger a biological change on plankton - the base of the marine food web - with cascading effects on fisheries and carbon sequestration. ECOTIP aims at understanding and predicting these potential changes and their consequences through biological observations and models, socio-economic interviews and workshops. ECOTIP includes a Local Ecological Knowledge study to learn about how biodiversity changes are currently impacting Greenlandic fisheries and communities, and to obtain up to date knowledge of the key strengths and challenges for fishery adaptation in the Greenlandic context.

Research Council of Norway, NORRUSS Grant number 301540. https://vbn.aau.dk/da/projects/sustainable-arctic-cruise-communities-from-practice-to-governance

Carina Ren: WP lead

Small and remote Arctic communities can benefit economically from the arrival of cruise ships, offering local tours and supply services. However, the negative impacts of cruise ship visits, such as pollution, waste, social pressure, and strain on local infrastructure, have raised concerns. This project seeks to address the challenges faced by Arctic communities by generating knowledge about sustainable cruise practices. Specifically, it aims to explore how the cruise industry and Arctic communities can coexist harmoniously and transform controversies and disadvantages into opportunities for sustainable development. The project develops a toolkit for sustainable cruise tourism in local destinations, which provides knowledge and insights that are needed to facilitate the transition towards sustainable cruise visits in Arctic communities. By promoting sustainable practices, the project aims to support the creation of meaningful livelihoods for the residents of the Arctic.

Horizon 2020 Grant agreement No 869154
Lill Rastad Bjørst WP Lead, Carina Ren: researcher https://vbn.aau.dk/da/projects/the-future-of-arctic-coastal-ecosystems-identifying-transitions-i

This WP on Nature-based tourism within the FACE-IT project will identify how increased tourism activities in the coastal zone interlinks with multiple drivers of environmental changes in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Similar to the research on food provision and livelihoods, interactive scenarios will be co-developed with local stakeholders projecting changing coastal biodiversity and cryosphere changes of relevance for future tourism in Svalbard and West Greenland based on a set of locally grounded narratives of potential futures. The scenarios will also be used for assessing the potential for adaptive co-management of nature-based and marine tourism destinations, considering the relationship between tourism and climate change, and between threatened wildlife populations and explorer tourism.

(2019-2023, Independent Research Fund Denmark, grant No 9037–00140B), https://vbn.aau.dk/da/projects/muskox-pathways-ecologies-and-resources-in-greenland

Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen: Co-PI

This research project explores the social and economic significance of the muskox in Greenland. It does so by considering the muskox as a relational being, or an actor in a larger network, and by scrutinizing the pathways along which the muskoxen migrate, transform, and emerge as resources in multiple ways. Using a single species – the muskox – to retell an Arctic natural-and-cultural history including the deep entanglements between natural ecosystems and social forms, the project marks a shift in the scientific approach to Arctic resources and sustainability. The project aims to: Generate and test new methodological and analytical approaches to study Anthropocene realities and relations by starting from the deep entanglement of human activity and ecosystems; and to: Decolonize the management of ecosystems by generating discussions about the kinds of knowledge that may partake in ecosystem monitoring and management; and to; Identify possible pathways for generating new value around muskox by entering into discussions and collaboration with stakeholders in Greenland