Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic

The Arctic has experienced substantial climate change and during recent decades Arctic climate change and effects thereof have accelerated. This has led to profound effects and impacts on the physical, chemical and biological conditions of the Arctic and is expected to lead to fundamental changes across the Arctic.

Climate change and primary and higher-order effects of climate change are a main driver of Arctic change, but it is not the only driver. Other factors (drivers of change) such as, for example, global resource demands, tourism, global transport, fisheries, and economic development also drive change in the Arctic. The different drivers of change are often interrelated and interlinked.

In 2011 the Arctic Council directed the Senior Arctic Officials “to review the need for an integrated assessment of multiple drivers of Arctic change as a tool for Indigenous Peoples, Arctic residents, governments and industry to prepare for the future, ………”. This resulted in the project “Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic” (AACA).

The overall objective of the AACA is to enable more informed, timely and responsive policy and decision making in a rapidly changing Arctic; the project consists of three separate activities.