Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS30 Climate Change Impacts in the Arctic: Ecosystems and Societies (Science and Society Connections)

Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001, Time: 2:00:00 PM

Location: Ruidoso/Pecos

Lange, M, A, Institute for Geophysics, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany, langema@uni-muenster.de

ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF GLOBAL CHANGES IN THE BARENTS SEA REGION: INTEGRATED MODELLING AND STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION

Global and climate changes will be amplified in the Arctic due to a number of complex feedback processes between marine-, terrestrial and the climate system. Thus, assessing the impacts of such changes for nature and people in the circumpolar North attains a high priority. Because of the regional manifestation of climate changes and as a result of the inter-linkages between natural and societal systems, integrated regional impact studies (IRISs) have been identified as suitable tools to address this challenge. In the framework of an IRIS, two tasks become central: (i) construction of an integrated assessment model (IAM) and (ii) involvement and participation of stakeholders in the IRIS. Both issues have been pursued within the Barents Sea Impact Study (BASIS). The IAM consists of modules describing processes in marine and terrestrial ecosystems and their consequences for key economic sectors. The models are driven by results from a dedicated regional climate model for the Barents Region. The involvement of stakeholders has been pursued through various activities of a dedicated BASIS Information Office at the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi, Finland.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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