These new conditions will bring opportunities for Arctic shipping but also challenges for the environment, local communities or raise safety issues due to missing search and rescue facilities. European shipping companies have already used the Northern Sea Route in the last years to transporting cargo from Europe to East Asia and vice versa. There is also growing interest by the tourism industry in using Arctic waters for carrying tourists to Arctic sites along the Northwest and the Northeast Passage.
The session organised by the EU-projects ICE-ARC and EU-PolarNet will address the environmental, social and economic impacts of increased shipping in Arctic waters in relation to different IPCC scenarios and propose necessary actions for developing sustainable Arctic shipping.

Speakers:

• Andrea Tilche, Head of the Climate Action and Earth Observation Unit, Directorate General for Research and Innovation, European Commission: Sustainable Development in the Arctic – the New Arctic Policy.
• Kathrin Riemann-Campe, Post-doctoral Scientist, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Alfred Wegener Institute: IPCC AR5: Projections of Arctic Sea Ice Change.
• Johan Gille, Senior Consultant, ECORYS: Current Business Restrictions and Future Opportunities for Arctic Shipping.
• Kathy Law, Director of Research, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux: Current and Future Impacts of Pollution from Arctic Shipping.
• Lawson Brigham, Distinguished Professor of Geography & Arctic Policy, University of Alaska Fairbanks: The IMO Polar Code and Future Arctic Marine Operations.
• Jeremy Wilkinson, Sea Ice Physicist, British Antarctic Survey: Conclusions and Recommendations for Necessary Actions from an ICE-ARC Perspective
• Björn Dahlbäck, Director General, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat: Conclusions and Recommendations for Necessary Actions from an EU-PolarNet Perspective.
• Paolo Ruti, Chief, World Weather Research Programme, World Meteorological Organization: A WMO Research Contribution to Future Arctic: the Year Of Polar Prediction.