This meeting was a side event for the Ocean Conference concerning the resilience of the Arctic. It was held by the Government of Sweden, Stockholm Environment Institute and Stockholm Resilience Centrum.

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H.E. Ms Isabella Lövin opened the meeting with statistics and images’ displaying global warming’s effects on the Arctic Ocean. She emphasized that the Arctic has been changing due to global warming for much longer than the time these changes have received scientific and media attention.

Regarding the Arctic Resilience Report, Dr Marcus Carson believed that the Arctic communities could be highly resilient if they could be organized and integrated with knowledge. Dr Tom Armstrong emphasized that what happened in the Arctic didn’t stay in the Arctic; the Arctic-Pacific Ocean interaction increased the temperature and the acidity of the water which was the direct the evidence of human impact on climate and oceans. Ms Matilda Ernkrans asserted that we all had to be passionate and patient on the issue because it was never easy to get a broad agreement.

Meeting: Arctic Ocean Resilience: Can critical tipping points still be avoided?

Date/Location: Friday, June 9, 2017; 13:15-14:30; Conference Room 4, United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY

Speakers: H.E. Ms Isabella Lövin, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate, and Deputy Prime Minister; Dr Marcus Carson, Stockholm Environment Institute, Project Director, Arctic Resilience Assessment; Dr Tom Armstrong, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program; Mr Joel Clement, Director, Office of Policy Analysis, U.S Department of the Interior; Dr Pinsak Suraswadi, Director, Marine and Coastal Resources Research Institute, Bangkok, Thailand; Ms Liisa Rohweder, Secretary General, WWF Finland, Chair – WWF Arctic Program; Ms Matilda Ernkrans, Member of the Swedish Parliament, Chair of the Committee for Environment and Agriculture; Dr Tom Arnbom, Senior Advisor, Marine and Arctic, WWF Sweden; Ambassador Jouni Laaksonen, Deputy Permanent Representative of Finland to the UN

Written by: WIT Representative Brady Leung

Edited by: WIT Representative Mariel Brunman