ACCESS

ACCESS will evaluate climatic impacts in the Arctic on marine transportation (including tourism), fisheries, marine mammals and the extraction of hydrocarbons for the next 20 years; with particular attention to environmental sensitivities and sustainability. These meso-economic issues will be extended to the macro-economic scale in order to highlight trans-sectoral implications and provide an integrated assessment of the socio-economic impact of climate change. An important aspect of ACCESS, given the geostrategic implication of Arctic state changes, will be the consideration of Arctic governance issues, including the framework UNCLOS (United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea)

Work conducted by the ACCESS consortium has enabled researchers to assess the risks of climate change to both humans and the environment. This will help to develop effective measures to mitigate these risks and build on work in scientific and socioeconomic fields to identify how governance can be improved. ACCESS will enable decision-making to be based on state-of-the-art scientific knowledge and tools such as integrated ecosystem-based management, marine spatial planning, indicators and resilience assessment. Policymaking in the Arctic will also incorporate traditional knowledge and protect the interests of the environment and indigenous and local populations by using examples of best practice.