First General Meeting and Kick-Off of the SustainME Project
Scientists at the Stefansson Arctic Institute – Prof. Joan Nymand Larsen and Dr. Jón Haukur Ingimundarson - participated in the first consortium meeting and kick-off of SustainMe (Sustainable Human Use of the Arctic Marine Environment) which was held at the Danish Meterological Institute, DMI, on June 17-18.
The overall aim of the SustainME is to co-produce knowledge that supports the sustainable use of the Arctic marine environment by identifying, developing, and assessing adaptation solutions to mitigate the impacts and risks arising from the combined effects of sea ice loss and increasing human pressures on Arctic marine ecosystems.
An early start-up of fieldwork in Ilulissat, Disko Bay, Greenland, led by Stefansson Arctic Institute, took place earlier in the spring when Joan Nymand Larsen and Jón Haukur Ingimundarson engaged in early community meetings and stakeholder scoping, including preparations for research on food security and human wellbeing scheduled for the fall.
Joan Nymand Larsen, co-leads the project's research on Arctic food security. This work includes field-based research in Ilulissat, West Greenland, and examines the implications of environmental and socio-economic change for local communities.
The Arctic food security research adopts a holistic conceptualization of well-being that integrates health, local economic security, sustainable livelihoods, and food security, encompassing both subsistence harvesting and market-based food systems. This research component investigates the interconnected relationships between sea ice dynamics, ocean conditions, marine transportation, and living marine resources, and their collective influence on community well-being and food security in the Arctic.
The SustainME project is an interdisciplinary research project funded by NordForsk and led by the University of Ottawa in Canada (Dr. Jackie Dawson) and the Institute of Marine Research in Norway (Dr. Lis Jørgensen).
The international consortium comprises 17 partner institutions, and the project spans a 5-year period from 2025 to 2029.
For more information:
NordForsk – Sustainable Human Use of the Marine Environment (SustainME)
Prof. Joan Nymand Larsen jnl@unak.is