Based on the increasingly urgent need for scientific understanding and rational policies to guide Arctic decision making, investment, and development, the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) convened a Japan-U.S. Arctic Strategy and Policy Workshop during the first week of March, 2015. This workshop explored topics of immediate urgency, long-term importance, and US-Japan cooperation. We are confident these workshop discussions will provide input both to Japan’s Arctic policy and to the execution of the US Executive Order on the Arctic.

This workshop was based in the recognition that Arctic science is receiving more attention with each passing month. The Arctic’s critical roles in global climate dynamics, policy, commerce, and security have made it a prominent feature in major strategic plans and assessments, including the U.S. National Strategy for the Arctic Region (2013) and Arctic Research Plan: FY 2013-2017. The U.S. has also named Admiral Robert Papp as special representative to the Arctic, as a way to strengthen international partnerships, and foreshadowing the beginning of the U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council in April 2015.

Browse and download workshop files