Partnerships for Place-Based Problem Solving

Tuesday, July 25, 2017 | 1:30pm, 401 Akasofu

Diverse entities are working on Arctic issues in Alaska, with independent responsibilities for a range of activities both scientific and policy related. While such a myriad of expertise is beneficial, fragmentation also creates challenges when addressing the rapidly emerging and complex issues of the Arctic.

While mechanisms exist and processes have been established to help bridge fragmentation and bring people and institutions together, there are still perceptions that fragmentation exists, that these mechanisms aren’t reaching their full potential, and that more work needs to be done to build more meaningful relationships.

Megan Godfrey and Sorina Seeley’s work uses food security as a lens into understanding existing relationships between natural resource managers and resource users in Arctic Alaska. Through literature review and conversations with natural resource managers, their work shines a light on some of the existing tensions that exist between managers and users, so that we are able to think more critically about what creates good relationships/partnerships and what needs to be addressed in order to obtain them.