24 January 2018
Arctic scientists set up an “immersive” tent encampment at the World Economic Forum, demonstrating to world leaders the need for urgent action to limit arctic change.

Leading Arctic researchers from around the world – including Arctic Basecamp creator Professor Gail Whiteman from Lancaster - are gathering in blizzard conditions in Davos to highlight climate change in the Arctic and Antarctica. They will demonstrate the latest scientific advances in measuring environmental damage in two of the world’s most remote and climatically important regions.

The basecamp is a creative and immersive environment that will give attendees the opportunity to learn about both the damage being done to the Polar regions, and the technology solutions that are reducing carbon emissions.

Inside the basecamp tents, the researchers are showcasing scientific equipment such as the sensors, buoys and probes that they use in their fieldwork in the Arctic marine environment. Screens will show a live link-up to the Rothera Research station, the UK’s largest research station in Antarctica, speaking directly to the winter station leader, Dr Jess Walkup. The scientists will carry out live demonstrations with 700-year-old ice core samples to show audiences how tiny air bubbles reveal our past climate history. They will also warn of the economic consequences of polar change.

The scientists’ warning is reinforced by this year’s World Economic Forum Global Risks Report, which highlights ‘extreme weather’ as the number one Global Risk, which could profoundly impact the world’s societies, economies and industry sectors such as agriculture, insurance, infrastructure and shipping.

The Basecamp initiative draws on research from Mission2020, a global campaign to accelerate action on climate change, enabling the world to reach a turning point on greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and creating the conditions in which all of the sustainable development goals can be achieved.

“Despite the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, Arctic science clearly shows that the world needs to take deeper and bolder actions today in order to get the healthy, clean, sustainable future we need,” said Gail, Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster.

“We set up the Arctic Basecamp at Davos in order to communicate to world leaders the significant global economic and social risks from Arctic change, and the urgent need to bend the emissions curve by 2020. The fact that such a significant number of Arctic scientists have gathered here at the World Economic Forum reflects this urgency and we hope that our partnership with Mission2020 and Global Goals ensures that low carbon solutions are driven by rigorous scientific evidence: we bring the facts, they bring the answers.”

Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and convener of Mission2020, said: “The science sends one clear message: urgency, urgency, urgency. We have a golden opportunity between now and 2020 to step up our ambition and speed up our action on climate change. In service of our beautiful Arctic, in service of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, let’s turn the tide of emissions by 2020 so that everyone can prosper.”

Jeremy Wilkinson, Senior Glaciologist at British Antarctic Survey said: “The science is unequivocal. Arctic change is progressing rapidly and these changes will impact us all. It is great to see the prominent role scientists are playing in influencing the political and business agenda at WEF and around the world. Scientists must continue to develop these essential relationships, and ensure they provide access to the latest research which must underpin decisions that shift the world to a low-carbon economy.”

Richard Curtis, filmmaker and founder of Project Everyone, added: “Accelerating actions on the climate goals as set out in the Paris agreement is the only way to limit global warming and ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals remain within our reach. We’ve brought Arctic basecamp to Davos to reinforce the message that this is urgent. We need speed and we need everyone – businesses, politicians, scientists and activists - to get involved.”

Other scientists at the Global Goals Arctic Basecamp will include:

  • Bruce Forbes, Professor of Geosciences at the University of Lapland, Finland
  • Jennifer Francis, Research Professor with the Rutgers Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, USA
  • Craig Lee, Professor and Senior Principal Oceanographer at the University of Washington, USA
  • Johan Rockström, Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Chair of the Arctic Council’s Resilience Assessment report, Sweden
  • Konrad Steffen, Director of the Swiss Federal Research Institute and a Professor in Climate and Cryosphere at the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering at EPF-Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Julienne Stroeve, Senior Research Scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and Professor at UCL, USA and UK
  • Jan-Gunnar Winther, Specialist Director of the Norwegian Polar Institute, Norway

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