Consequences of Rapid Environmental Arctic Change for People

People experience the consequences of a rapidly changing Arctic as the combined effects of physical conditions; responses of biological resources; impacts on infrastructure; decisions influencing adaptive capacities; and both environmental and international influences on economics and well-being. Living and innovating in Arctic environments over millennia, Indigenous Peoples have evolved holistic knowledge providing resilience and sustainability. Indigenous expertise is augmented by scientific abilities to reconstruct past environments and to model and predict future changes. Applying the combined understanding of Indigenous and scientific experts will be important if decision makers (from communities to governments) are to help mitigate and adapt to a rapidly changing Arctic. Considerable discussion among diverse collaborators suggests that addressing unprecedented Arctic environmental changes requires hearing one another, aligning values, and collaborating across knowledge systems, disciplines, and sectors of society.