Marit Reigstad
Nansen Legacy PI
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
marit.reigstad@uit.no
Paul Renaud
Reference group cooridnator
Akvaplan-niva
per@akvaplan.niva.no
Users and stakeholders are of great importance for the Nansen Legacy project with aims to establish a knowledge base for future use. For this purpose, the Nansen Legacy interacts with different user groups using a broad spectrum of fora for dialogue and input.
The Nansen Legacy has established a Reference group, consisting of representatives from key sectors, including maritime-, petroleum-, fisheries- and the biomarine industry, as well as management organizations. The key needs identified by the Reference group include improved scientific knowledge for sustainable management, setting the Barents Sea in a pan-Arctic context, and helping society to adapt to changes and risks. The Nansen Legacy uses panel discussions as well as scenario workshops as tools in the dialogue with the Reference group in order to address the points put forward by the group, as well as to address resource planning and development challenges in the Arctic. In addition to the dialog with the project’s Reference group, the Nansen Legacy talks with other interested users to strengthen the dialogue on more specific fields of interaction.
The Nansen Legacy organizes and contributes to a wide range of public events addressing topics of high societal relevance within the scope of the project, such as fisheries management, ocean sustainability, green solutions and the Arctic future. Typical platforms are panel discussions and side events during conferences such as Arctic Frontiers, Arctic Futures 2050, or the Arctic Science Ministerial Meeting, but the project also contributes to more casual pub-debates and public seminars.
Nansen Legacy scientists contribute to the synthesis activities on national and international levels, such as reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Conservation of Arctic Fauna and Flora (CAFF), or the national Advisory Group on Monitoring. The participants are to a large degree nominated by their institutions, but integrate Nansen Legacy derived knowledge and perspectives.
Three of the Nansen Legacy consortium partners (Norwegian Polar Institute, Institute of Marine Research, Norwegian Meteorological Institute) are governmental management and advice institutions with a mandate related to the mission of the project. Nansen Legacy research activities, results and perspectives that complement the institutional programs are thus brought into relevant processes and products.