Harvard's Arctic Initiative

About Harvard's Arctic Initiative

The Arctic has become a crucible in which the fast-warming climate is generating cascading impacts both within and beyond the region. It is compounding economic and social changes facing the region’s economies and Indigenous and local cultures. And it is complicating governance within and among Arctic nations, as well as relations among Arctic-interested countries more widely. Launched in 2017, the Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs seeks to contribute to the interdisciplinary, multidimensional, collaborative analysis and responsive actions that this complex of problems and opportunities requires. Our team of faculty, fellows, and staff works closely with officials and experts across the circumpolar region to advance work in five focus areas: enhancing community resilience in a changing Arctic, developing responses to the local and global impacts of permafrost thaw, addressing issues in Arctic Ocean management, charting a course for future Arctic governance, and training the next generation of Arctic leaders.