Permafrost thaw poses diverse risks to Arctic environments and livelihoods. Understanding the effects of permafrost thaw is vital for informed policymaking and adaptation efforts.
Here, an interdisciplinary group of Nunataryuk reserachers presents the consolidated findings of a risk analysis spanning four study regions: Longyearbyen (Svalbard, Norway), the Avannaata municipality (Greenland), the Beaufort Sea region and the Mackenzie River Delta (Canada) and the Bulunskiy District of the Sakha Republic (Russia).
Local stakeholders’ and scientists’ perceptions shaped the understanding of the risks as dynamic, socionatural phenomena involving physical processes, key hazards, and societal consequences.
Through an inter- and transdisciplinary risk analysis based on multidirectional knowledge exchanges and thematic network analysis, we identified five key hazards of permafrost thaw. These include infrastructure failure, disruption of mobility and supplies, decreased water quality, challenges for food security, and exposure to diseases and contaminants.
The study’s novelty resides in the comparative approach spanning different disciplines, environmental and societal contexts, and the transdisciplinary synthesis considering various risk perceptions.
These results are also highlighted in the Arctic Permafrost Atlas and form the baseline of a Horizon Europe funded ILLUQ project, which studies what happens to organic matter and contaminants that are released from the thawing arctic permafrost.
The original Nature Communications publication can be read in here.
A "Behind the paper" story is published on the SpringerNature Research Communities website.
