The UArctic Thematic Network on Arctic Law and the UArctic Chair in Arctic Legal Research and Education are pleased to announce a call for papers for Volume 11 of Current Developments in Arctic Law (2023).

The Volume 11 will bring together short articles on
the special theme Inter-Polar Perspectives: Connecting the
Arctic with the Third Pole.
 
The Arctic and the Third Pole-Himalayan region both exhibit important features
of the cryosphere, one being the near-permanent presence of water in a frozen state.
As temperatures in both regions are currently increasing rapidly, frozen ground is
thawing apace, and several indicators are at the tipping point. Changes in the
cryosphere will have major impacts on ecosystems and local communities as well as
lead to larger-scale changes. 

In the Himalayas,
the melting of glaciers and changes in the snowpack will have a significant impact
on the provision of water to a quarter of humanity. The melting of the cryosphere in
the Arctic will contribute significantly to global sea level rise, affecting the 10%
of humanity who live in areas 10 m or less above sea level. Rising seas will also
undermine global trade as docks and other infrastructure are
impacted. 

Work delving deeper into the link
between cryosphere thaw and climate change marks a crucial step forward in polar
science. Regrettably, to date the Arctic and Third Pole have almost always been
considered separately. Indeed, the scholarship as it stands demonstrates little
knowledge about the commonalities and links between the regions. Mindful of this
shortcoming, the proposed volume intends to explore the interconnectedness between
the two regions from an interdisciplinary perspective.  Particularly
salient would be contributions analysing the effects of and responses to ongoing and
imminent changes in (geo-)political, socio-cultural, environmental and legal
perspective. 
 
Contributions to be
included may be academic articles, review papers, popularized accounts of research
findings, summaries of research or other projects initiated, conference or seminar
reports, analyses of news stories, or comparable work focusing on the special
theme.
 
The publication is non-peer-reviewed but
considered scientific. It is an open-access publication. The length of a
contribution may not exceed 3000 words, including citations and references. The
Volume is expected to be released in December 2023.
 
Please send your contributions to Kamrul Hossain at
kamrul.hossain(at)ulapland.fi  
Deadline: 10 November 2023.


UArctic Thematic Network on Arctic
Law 
UArctic Chair in Arctic Legal Research and
Education 

More
information: 

Research professor Kamrul Hossain
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
Kamrul.hossain(at)ulapland.fi