Columns on Arctic Topics

The Seventh International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR-7) was held at Tachikawa Campus of Research Organization of Information and Systems, and National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, in Tachikawa, Tokyo on March 6-10, 2023, by a hybrid manner (partly in-person and partly online). The symposium was organized by Japan Consortium for Arctic Research (JCAR) and National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) with cordial supports from Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Hokkaido University, Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research of Nagoya University and many other institutions and associations including Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II (ArCS II) project. The theme of this symposium was Transdisciplinary Studies on a Rapidly Changing Arctic toward a Sustainable Society.

The previous symposia have mainly focused on the effects of global warming, which is progressing several times faster in the Arctic than in the other regions, as well as related interdisciplinary discussions on the rapidly changing Arctic such as the Arctic shipping routes which require natural science, economics, international law and other perspectives. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the new international problem that have occurred in the last three years since ISAR-6 were unexpected and devastating changes for humanity. Thus, the ISAR-7 topics have been extended to broader areas such as security and geopolitics, so that the research in the Arctic region would lead to contribute for sustainable development of all humankind.

We had 336 presentations in 4 keynote speeches, 10 regular sessions, 19 special sessions, 16 session presentations and poster session. The number of participants was 448 (340 in-person and 108 online) from 24 countries/areas including all of 8 Arctic Council countries. 4 outstanding poster presentations were awarded. The symposium was quite successful with fruitful discussions under the symposium theme.