UW Receives NordForsk Grant for "LostToClimate" Arctic Project

The University Centre of the Westfjords (UW) has been awarded a highly competitive NordForsk grant for the "LostToClimate" project, which will explore the unavoidable non-economic losses experienced by Arctic communities due to climate change. This collaborative effort brings together scientists and community members from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, and the United States, including several Indigenous communities, to co-produce knowledge that can inform future adaptation strategies.

Matthias Kokorsch, UW’s academic director and the project leader for the Icelandic case studies, applied for and accepted the grant on UW’s behalf, part of a very competitive process. Out of about 200 applications received by NordForsk, only nine projects were funded, with two involving UW. NordForsk has allocated a total of more than 330 million Norwegian kroner for these 9 projects as a major investment in the Arctic. “LostToClimate” is a 4 year project that will end in 2029.

In the project description it is stated that the Arctic is experiencing some of the fastest warming on the planet, leading to coastal erosion, permafrost thaw, wildfires, and sea-ice loss. Despite adaptation measures, these impacts undermine the well-being of Arctic communities, both economically (e.g. by damaging infrastructure) and non-economically (e.g. by damaging cultural heritage and psychosocial health). 

LostToClimate will rely on a variety of ethnographic methods, including art-based approaches, to engage local populations in a meaningful dialogue about the climate-induced changes they face. The project will focus on understanding four main research questions: identifying the types of non-economic losses Arctic communities are likely to experience, exploring how these communities balance these losses with adaptation strategies, and assessing what types of responses they prefer to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

For more details on the LostToClimate project, visit the NordForsk project page.