The Arctic and the Third Pole-Himalayan region both contain
important elements of the cryosphere, areas of the world that are defined by the
near-permanent presence of water in a frozen state. However, as temperatures in both
regions are currently warming at several times the global average, these areas are
rapidly thawing, and several elements of the cryosphere are said to be tipping
points in the global climate system. This will have major impacts on local
communities and ecosystem, and also lead to larger-scale changes. Nevertheless, the
Arctic and Third Pole are almost always considered separately, demonstrating very
little knowledge about the commonalities, links, and differences between both
regions.

To remedy this deficiency, the Northern Institute
for Environmental and Minority Law in collaboration with the International Centre
for Integrated Mountain Development, the UArctic Chair in Arctic Legal Research and
Education, and the UArctic Law Thematic Network, is organising an Inter-Polar
Conference in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 6-9 September 2023. This Conference is meant to
be an initial starting point for a durable network that will bring together experts
from both regions and explore Arctic and Third Pole topics from an inter-polar
perspective.

We invite abstract submissions by scholars
from the Arctic and the Third Pole regions until the 30st of June 2023 to
interpolarconference2023@gmail.com.

More about
requirements and the submission on the conference
website.

Conference coordination committee at the
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland:

• Prof. Kamrul
Hussain
• Marco Volpe
• Albert van Wijngaarden