As polar ice melts, Russia, already a major Arctic power, wants to make the region its own. China has ambitions for a “Polar Silk Road.” And NATO is embracing Finland — and Sweden too, Washington hopes — giving the alliance new reach in the Far North. Climate change is accelerating and amplifying competition in the Arctic as never before, opening the region to greater commercial and strategic jostling just at a moment when Russia, China and the West are all seeking to expand their military presence there.

More than two dozen U.S. Air Force fighters and tankers—including F-35s for the first time—are participating in what U.S. Air Force leaders in Europe call the region’s “premier” Nordic exercise over the next two weeks. Some 150 aircraft from 14 countries are taking part in Arctic Challenge Exercise 2023, which kicked off May 29 and runs through June 9 at bases across Sweden, Finland, and Norway. 

Johnsen, the head of communications for Troms Kraft, a Norwegian renewable energy group, says the AEC will have an important role to play in the longterm sustainable development of the North. “The AEC remains to be the only organization representing business interests in the region,” Johnsen said in a Q&A posted on the AEC website. “The Arctic is too important to let the decisions be made outside of the region and without participation of the stakeholders for whom living and working in the North.

On the 11th of May, Norway took over the chairship of the Arctic Council from Russia. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will now advertise a project position in the city of Tromsø for the chairship period in the next two years, reports Nordlys. Tromsø – known as Norway's Arctic capital – has since 2013 been the base for the Arctic Council's international secretariat, to which the position will be connected. The secretariat is located at FRAM – High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment.

The conference will encompass all relevant aspects of permafrost research, engineering and outreach on a global and regional level during three exciting days of plenary lectures, oral presentations and posters, combined with several local field trips across the eastern Pyrenees (Cerdanya, Núria, Andorra, etc).

The final program is available here.

The 6th biennial "Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit" Conference will be held on 14-15 November 2023 in Rovaniemi, Finland, the birthplace of official Arctic cooperation. This international conference, organized by the City of Rovaniemi and the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland, gathers policymakers, academics, and other stakeholders for Arctic discussions. Due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, changes in Arctic cooperation will be prominently featured in the conference agenda, and will be explored from the point of view of national and international security, and from a regional perspective, including the Barents region.

The 52nd International Arctic Workshop will be held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The International Arctic Workshop is a friendly, informal, and relaxed conference open to all students and professionals interested in the Arctic. Originally started at INSTAAR at the University of Colorado - Boulder, the Arctic Workshop alternates between INSTAAR and an international host. This year, University of Massachusetts with the department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences & Climate System Research center will be hosting. 

The 12^th International Conference on Permafrost will consider “Integrating Perspectives of Permafrost Thaw, Change, and Adaptation.” Event partners include the Canadian Permafrost Association, IPA, and Yukon University.

In lead up to its 35th anniversary in 2025, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) is coordinating a multi-year planning process for the Fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV) that will engage Arctic researchers, policymakers, residents, and stakeholders from around the world to collegially discuss the state of Arctic science, the place the Arctic occupies in global affairs and systems, to consider the most urgent knowledge gaps and research priorities that lie before us and to explore avenues to address these research needs. This event is hosted by a consortium of US institutions, including the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Northern Iowa, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Alaska Pacific University. ICARP I, II, and III focused the attention of the world’s researchers toward the value of strategic international coordination in accelerating progress in addressing critical challenges. ICARP IV will build upon this concept by striving to achieve consensus and build collaborations among the leading scientific, academic, environmental, Indigenous and political organizations currently concerned with Arctic issues.