Arctic Ocean Governance

Elective Course | 4 ECTS | Námskeið: CMM 47

Kennari: Dr. Bradley W. Barr

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The Arctic is subject to rapid and substantial impacts from climate change that is facilitating expanded human use and exploitation of its resources. Governance of such a region presents many challenges and opportunities for collaboration among the Arctic states responsible for effective stewardship of their sovereign waters, other nations with interests in expanding access to Arctic resources, and the international community more generally. The present and potential future governance of Arctic nations, international collaborations that have been established to foster coordination among these nations are discussed and analyzed during the course. Potential future frameworks for Arctic governance are also evaluated and the special role of Indigenous people is highlighted.

Participation in the Arctic Circle Conference in Reykjavík, an important international forum focused on Arctic policy and governance, is an integral element of this course and provides students with a unique and important opportunity to experience high-level discussions of many challenges faced in the region, and potential emerging solutions.  Participation in the Conference also offers students the opportunity to meet and learn more about these issues and challenges from the key leaders of Arctic nations as well as other important players in the Arctic governance and policy community at this forum. 

Kennari

For more than four decades, Brad Barr (USA) has been actively engaged as a practitioner in marine and coastal protected areas management and preservation.  He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the Universities of Maine and Massachusetts, and his PhD from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  He is currently a Senior Advisor in the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries’ Maritime Heritage Program.  For the past 14 years, he has served as Visiting Faculty at the University Centre of the Westfjords, teaching courses on marine protected areas, preservation of underwater cultural heritage resources, and Arctic Ocean governance, as well as advising many UW students’ thesis research.  He is also an Affiliate Professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering. He is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, serves on the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, and is a founding member of the International Committee on Marine Mammal Protected Areas.  He has published extensively on research focused on marine protected areas science and management, the identification and management of ocean wilderness, and place-based heritage preservation in the Arctic.

"Having continuously served the UW as “Visiting Faculty” for 14 years, I have found the opportunity to share my more than four decades of on-the-water experience as an international ocean conservation practitioner, manager, and researcher with this community highly rewarding, through both my teaching and advising the talented students who have chosen the UW to continue their education, and who represent the next generation of ocean conservation professionals that must take responsibility for confronting many of the complex challenges we have yet to effectively address."

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