ARCHAIC

ARCHAIC – Sustainable and Resilient Arctic Communities

Climate change is transforming the Arctic faster than most other regions of the world. For remote communities, this can mean increasing exposure to landslides, avalanches, flooding, extreme weather and other natural hazards. At the same time, decisions about how communities prepare for, respond to and recover from such events can have long-term consequences for where and how people live.

The ARCHAIC project investigates how remote Arctic communities can become safer, more resilient and more sustainable in a changing climate. The project looks not only at the hazards themselves, but also at the difficult choices communities and authorities may face: How can risks be reduced? When is it possible to make a community safer? When might relocation become necessary? And when is rebuilding in the same place a sustainable alternative?

The project focuses on five closely connected areas: understanding changing climate risks and community resilience; improving early warning systems; examining relocation from high-risk areas; strengthening emergency preparedness and crisis management; and sharing climate adaptation experiences between Arctic communities and beyond.

ARCHAIC combines different research methods and works closely with local communities, authorities and other stakeholders in Iceland, Greenland, and Svalbard. By comparing experiences across these places, the project aims to identify practical lessons that can support communities facing similar challenges elsewhere in the Arctic and in other climate-sensitive regions.

An important part of the project is its focus on sustainable community development. Adaptation is not only about protecting infrastructure. It is also about maintaining safe and viable communities, understanding what people value about the places where they live, and considering the social and economic consequences of different adaptation choices.

Team Iceland

Matthias Kokorsch and Jóhanna Gísladóttir contribute to the Icelandic part of ARCHAIC. Their work focuses particularly on how communities and decision-makers deal with situations in which natural hazards make continued settlement increasingly difficult.

Matthias leads the work package on relocation from high-risk areas. This part of the project examines when relocation may become an adaptation option, how such decisions are made, who is involved, and what relocation means for affected communities.

Johanna leads the task examining Build Back Better as an alternative to relocation. The aim is to understand when rebuilding, strengthening or redesigning a settlement after a disaster can provide a safe and sustainable long-term solution, and when relocation may instead need to be considered.

ARCHAIC is also closely linked to teaching and student research at the University Centre of the Westfjords. Several master’s theses will be developed in connection with the project, giving students the opportunity to contribute to ongoing research on climate adaptation, natural hazards, community resilience, relocation and sustainable recovery.