NRF 5th Open Assembly Proceeding Papers available on the NRF website

The Proceeding Papers from the 5th NRF Open Assembly in Anchorage Alaska, "Seeking Balance in a Changing North", which was held in september 2008, have now been published and are available on the NRF website, www.nrf.is.  The Proceeding Papers from the 5th NRF Open Assembly in Anchorage Alaska, "Seeking Balance in a Changing North", which was held in september 2008, have now been published and are available on the NRF website, www.nrf.is. The proceedings include 44 papers written by Panelists, Young Researchers, Position Papers authors and other contributors from the 5th Open Assembly. Furthermore, special rapporteur presentations were prepared by the Young Researchers from each session and discussion group of the Assembly.

The proceedings articles are affiliated to the topics of the 5th NRF Open Assembly. The titles of the plenary sessions were the following: The Future of Northern Co-operation, The Accessible Arctic in the Global Economy and Leadership in the Age of Uncertainty. Apart from the plenary sessions, the program also consisted of open discussion in breakout sessions, special roundtable discussions about the Arctic Council and multilateral cooperation, theme project group discussions and one project session as well as Young Researchers rapporteur presentations.

The Theme Project Group roundtable discussions (with one project session) were the following: Future of Northern Cooperation: Legal and Political Issues, Economies in the North -Migration, Energy Issues, Northern Sea Routes and Climate Change - Northern Security/ies. The title of the Project Session was: How do we sustain and build healthy northern communities.

Please go to the NRF website to view the 5th NRF Proceedings, www.nrf.is.

The purpose of the Northern Research Forum is to promote intensive dialogue among members of the research community and a wide range of other northern stakeholders. This dialogue addresses the critical issues, problems and opportunities facing circumpolar peoples in the context of social and environmental changes and economic globalization. The Forum provides an open meeting for policy-relevant discussion on the role of research in addressing issues of sustainable development, community viability, peace and security, social and environmental policy, and the impacts of global change. Developing the capacity to address these issues is central to the mandate of the University of the Arctic which has incorporated the Forum as one of its key programmatic activities. The NRF has its own rules of procedure, adopted in November 2001. The NRF convenes an open meeting every second year, rotating among the different northern countries in order to address sub-regional and local concerns as well as region-wide issues. Participants at each session of the NRF include researchers, educators, politicians, business leaders, civil servants, community leaders, NGO representatives, resource users, and managers. The forum encourages participation by younger people and those with new and unconventional approaches.

The NRF is hosted by The Stefansson Arctic Institute and RHA - The Research Centre of the University of Akureyri for the University of Akureyri.

The Proceedings were edited by Guðrún Rósa Þórsteinsdóttir, NRF Secretariat director and Sigmar Arnarsson, employee of the secretariat. The articles were revised by Embla Eir Oddsdóttir, Polar Law Student, and Ingveldur Tryggvadóttir, Records Manager.