The strategic importance of the Arctic has increased dramatically already for some time due to climate change. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is also impacting regional geopolitics, stability, economic policies and cooperation in the Arctic. Two recently published articles review the contemporary security dynamics of the region and the future of the Arctic cooperation.

In the policy paper published by Friedrich Naumann
Foundation for Freedom Senior Researcher Sanna Kopra,
the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland and Colin
Wall, Associate Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS) review the contemporary security dynamics in the Arctic, with
particular attention to climate change and the impact of Russia’s war in
Ukraine.

According to the authors the Arctic is currently
witnessing intensifying great power rivalry and they also foresee long-lasting
impacts on the security landscape of the Arctic as a result of the war in
Ukraine. 

In another article written by Sanna Kopra and
Liisa Kauppila, Senior Researcher at the University of
Turku, the authors use the futures research technique of backcasting to construct
three scenarios on the continuation of the Arctic cooperation. The article produces
a set of alternative futures that all picture an Arctic of 2035 where at least the
eight Arctic states collaborate regularly, and in which climate change mitigation
and adaptation constitutes a key driver of collaboration. This article was published
in the Arctic Yearbook 2022.

Both articles are open access for
and free of charge for all readers.

POLICY PAPER: A new climate: The impact of Russia’s war
on a melting Arctic
Dr. Sanna Kopra and Colin Wall

The War in Ukraine as a Critical Juncture: China,
Russia, and Arctic Collaboration up to 2035. Arctic Yearbook
2022. Liisa Kauppila & Sanna Kopra

More information:

Senior researcher Sanna
Kopra, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
sanna.kopra(at)ulapland.fi;
+358 40 132 4502