Diplomacy for science

“Diplomacy for science” is defined as “facilitating international science cooperation” (The Royal Society, 2010, p 15).

• Building a pan-Arctic network - from 9 to 90 Research Stations

INTERACT is an inter-generational spin-off (Callaghan & Johansson, Reference Callaghan and Johansson2021) of the International Biological Programme (IBP) which coordinated large-scale ecological and environmental studies between 1964 and 1974 (Bliss, Heal, & Moore, Reference Bliss, Heal and Moore1981). IBP linked research sites and researchers throughout the tundra including participants from Canada, the United States, and western Soviet Union during the ongoing Cold War. Former participants of IBP met in 1998 to discuss making a transect (“SCANTRAN”) of research stations in Scandinavia (Turunen, Hukkinen, Heal, Saelthun, & Holten, Reference Turunen, Hukkinen, Heal, Saelthun and Holten1999), which would lay the ground for comparative environmental studies. This bottom-up idea was expanded to initiate a network of nine research stations around the North Atlantic called “SCANNET” in 2001 (Figure 1). SCANNET was established to facilitate research to understand impacts of global change on the lands of the North Atlantic Region and also to monitor changes in real time. The 4-year SCANNET project was funded under the EU’s 5th Framework programme (Callaghan et al., Reference Callaghan, Johansson, Heal, Sælthun, Barkved, Bayfield and Siikamäki2004).

In 2004, the research stations in the network continued to work together and established a Memorandum of Understanding. New stations approached the network and joined, despite lack of funding. The three criteria for a research station to join the network were 1) that the station should be long-term and stable, 2) it should have multidisciplinary activities and 3) it should be able to host guest scientists at their own expense. In 2011, the network had grown to 33 stations in 12 countries which together applied for a grant within the EU’s 7^th Framework Programme. The application was successful and as the geographical scope had increased from Scandinavia to most of the Arctic, SCANNET had developed into “INTERACT.” The overall aim of the network was to provide a geographically comprehensive and excellent infrastructure of terrestrial research stations throughout the Arctic and adjoining forest and alpine regions and to act as a one-stop-shop for environmental information on the terrestrial Arctic. In 2016, when the second phase of INTERACT was funded through the EU Horizon 2020 programme, the network had grown to 77 stations. When the third phase of INTERACT was funded in 2020 (also by the EU Horizon 2020 programme), the network had grown to 86, and at the beginning of 2022, the network consisted of 90 research stations from 18 countries. Together, the stations annually host more than 15,000 scientists, produce data for over 150 international networks (Figure 2), provide important bridges between the Arctic States and reach millions through outreach and education activities.

Figure 2. INTERACT serves more than 150 networks (circles with numbers surrounding the map). The figure gives an example of support for ecosystem networks (LTER Europe, LTER US and iLTER, nos 99-101), biodiversity and conservation networks (e.g. four expert groups of CAFF, nos 28-31), permafrost networks (e.g. GTN-P 65), education and Thematic Networks (UArctic, no 147), and the global meteorological network (WMO, nos. 154-155). INTERACT Stations contribute to five ESFRI (the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures projects; yellow circles) (INTERACT, 2020).

INTERACT is diverse and inclusive. It does not recognise any national or cultural boundaries and encompasses conventional science and Indigenous perspectives. Unlike centralised polar institutions in the South, INTERACT is widely distributed throughout the Arctic and neighbouring territories while the stations and their staff are often parts of the local communities. The current network of research stations has worked together for more than 20 years providing long-term, reliable and sustainable interaction, which is one of the criteria identified by Turekian (Reference Turekian2018) essential for actors to be able to contribute to science diplomacy.

• Making connections between networks and contributing to new networks

INTERACT research stations contribute to more than 150 organisations and networks from global organisations such as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to thematic networks such as the Global Terrestrial Network on Permafrost (GTN-P) (Figure 2). In addition, to making these connections, INTERACT has also stimulated the formation of new, national networks. An example is the Siberian Environmental Change Network (SecNet; Callaghan & Shaduyko, Reference Callaghan and Shaduyko2019). SecNet is an open community of universities, research institutes and other organisations, teams and individuals that are united by a common goal to support sustainable development of the North, including the Arctic, by accumulating experience and knowledge on Siberian environments and society to understand and predict societally important changes so that negative anthropogenic consequences can be minimised. INTERACT – SecNet collaboration resulted in important East-West diplomacy for science and collaboration by bringing Russian research into global literature (Callaghan, Shaduyko, Kirpotin, & Gordov, Reference Callaghan, Shaduyko, Kirpotin and Gordov2021a) immediately before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the deterioration of East-West diplomacy. At that time, the Russian Senior Arctic Official contributed a published Foreword to a study by SecNet (with contributions from INTERACT) stating the importance of international cooperation in the Arctic.

Science for diplomacy

Science for diplomacy is defined as “using science cooperation to improve international relations between countries” (The Royal Society, 2010, p15).

• Opening up the Arctic to the rest of the world

In 2011, INTERACT developed a transnational access scheme which allowed scientists to access excellent research infrastructures in countries other than their home country for their field research. This mobility scheme contributes to network-building, encourages partnership among the scientific community, friendships and understanding of different cultures including introductions to Indigenous and local people when appropriate. Scientists receive travel and accommodation costs covered by the EU funds for successfully evaluated projects to conduct excellent science.

In the first phase of INTERACT (2011-2016), the project provided transnational access from West Greenland, eastwards to East Siberia. At this point in time, the EU did not fund transnational access to North America. However, this was achieved through funding from the Centre for Northern Studies at Laval University and the Arctic Institute of North America for INTERACT transnational access in Canada and through the National Science Foundation in the United States for transnational access to Alaskan research stations. INTERACT could therefore provide unique pan-arctic transnational access to 24 research stations for researchers from all around the world.

From 2016, EU funds have covered also transnational access to North America thereby providing funding for pan-arctic transnational access from one funding source!

INTERACT’s transnational access has continued and grown since 2016. At the start of INTERACT 3 in 2020, 52 research stations from 11 countries provided transnational access. So far, INTERACT has enabled more than 1,000 scientists from almost 50 countries (Figure 3) to carry out research in the Arctic and has hence contributed to ensuring a significant number of new international collaborations – as well as breaking science of international importance. Although we focus here on science diplomacy, largely an unexpected spin-off, it should be remembered that the main aim of INTERACT is environmental research and monitoring. Hundreds of publications have been published in highly-ranked journals (a list is available at https://eu-interact.org/publication/ta/).

Figure 3. INTERACT has opened up the Arctic to scientists from all over the world through the transnational access (TA) scheme starting in 2011. a) TA Users from almost 50 countries have received TA Awards, the map shows the country of origin of the TA users. b) The lines denote project groups rather than individuals starting from their home institutions and travelling to an INTERACT research station denoted by a flag. Please note the comprehensive Arctic coverage, the east-west connections and the opening up of research stations in Russia denoting “science for diplomacy” before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

There are two important indicators of the success of Science for diplomacy. Firstly, the transnational access pool of funding where individual partners pool unused funds so that others can maximise their awards when they have spare capacity is an important aspect of international sharing arising from trust. The transnational access funding pool indicates a spirit of cooperation and is not inspired by a spirit of competition which can be the case for other organisations (e.g. Ruffini, Reference Ruffini2020). Secondly, several collaborations have arisen between local scientists at stations and foreign visitors supported by INTERACT funds.

• Changing perceptions and empowering future generations

Our future is the next generation. This generation will experience the major impacts of ongoing climate change, other global and Arctic challenges and geopolitical tensions caused by our generation. Organisations such as the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists, INTERACT and the University of the Arctic (UArctic) are investing in empowering new generations of scientists and policymakers to interact more efficiently than at present. For all generations to contribute to reducing climate change and other environmental impacts, fact-based perceptions are essential to understand the causes and implement solutions to the challenges.

To formulate general perceptions based on fact and to provide educational materials, INTERACT has produced two volumes of “Stories of Arctic Science.” Here, projects mainly supported by INTERACT Transnational Access are presented, using popular science and various communication methods and channels to describe where the projects were carried out and why the work is important (INTERACT, 2015; 2020). The INTERACT outreach and educational materials are available in at least 63 countries. Many of the science stories are interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary. This recognises that complex environmental problems need input from many disciplines working together. The importance of bringing people from different disciplines together, e.g. science, art, and politics enhances “science for diplomacy.”

Science in diplomacy

Science in diplomacy is defined as “informing foreign policy objectives with scientific advice” (The Royal Society, 2010, p 15).

• Contributing to Societal Challenges and Sustainable Development Goals

INTERACT is currently focusing on understanding and facilitating responses to six urgent societal challenges with local and global impacts (Table 2). The societal challenges (that INTERACT focuses on) were selected based on discussions with local communities, Indigenous Peoples, decision-makers, researchers, policy-making communities, reference to the EU Horizon 2020 societal challenges, United Nations sustainable development goals, the joint statement of Ministers from the second Arctic Science Ministerial meeting and the EU-PolarNet white papers (Vieira, Biebow, & Velázque, Reference Vieira, Biebow and Velázque2020). The selected societal challenges respond to six of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted in 2015 by 193 countries. The SDGs have been highlighted as an important framework to connect science to global policy priorities which enhances the role of science diplomacy (Turekian, Reference Turekian2018).

• Contributing to global and regional assessments

Table 2. INTERACT’s contributions to addressing major societal challenges (SC) of local and global importance (including UN sustainable development goals - SDG). The SDGs have been highlighted as an important framework to connect science to global policy priorities which enhances the role of science diplomacy (Turekian, Reference Turekian2018)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments of the current state of knowledge about climate change. The IPCC has proven to be extremely independent, and the Directors – Bert Bolin (a climate scientist from Sweden), Robert Watson (a British chemist) and Rajendra Pachauri (an Indian economist and engineer) – proved to be excellent diplomat scientists, as were many of the lead authors (Moomaw, Reference Moomaw2018) resulting in IPCC contributing to science in diplomacy (Ruffini, Reference Ruffini2018). INTERACT scientists have been involved in IPCC since the first Assessment Report (AR1) (e.g. Melillo, Callaghan, Woodward, Salati, & Sinha, Reference Melillo, Callaghan, Woodward, Salati, Sinha, Houghton, Jenkins and Ephraums1992) and INTERACT Stations have contributed with environmental data and research expertise to subsequent assessments carried out by the IPCC such as the Polar chapter in the 4^th and 5^th Assessment Reports; (Anisimov et al., Reference Anisimov, Vaughan, Callaghan, Furgal, Marchant, Prowse, Walsh, Parry, Canziani, Palutikof, van der Linden and Hanson2007; Larsen et al., Reference Larsen, Anisimov, Constable, Hollowed, Maynard, Prestrud and Stone2014).

The first regional climate assessment for the Arctic “The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment” was presented in 2005 (ACIA, 2005). Led by the Arctic Council’s working group AMAP and IASC, INTERACT researchers played a fundamental role that continued in the follow up “Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic” (AMAP, 2011; 2017) assessments. In these assessments, INTERACT researchers’ “science in diplomacy” led to the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and an Indigenous co-author.

Biodiversity loss is another global challenge. Although biodiversity in the Arctic is low (Callaghan et al., Reference Callaghan, Björn, Chernov, Chapin, Christensen, Huntley, Ims, Shaver and Corell2005), it is threatened by the accelerated rate of warming in the Arctic and the vulnerability of Arctic biodiversity to species invasions (CAFF, 2021). INTERACT facilitates research and monitoring of Arctic biodiversity in collaboration with the Arctic Council’s working group “Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna.” Results from this collaboration inform the global Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services process.

The UN Conference of Parties (COP) is an important arena for science in diplomacy. It was convened to prevent “dangerous” human interference with the climate system. It is the decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which entered into force in 1994 (https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/what-is-the-united-nations-framework-convention-on-climate-change). Today, 197 countries have ratified the Convention and all States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at COP meetings. The COP meets every year unless the Parties decide otherwise. At the meetings, the Parties review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.

INTERACT has been invited to contribute to the UN COP by hosting Ambassador-level climate negotiators from the European COP team at an INTERACT station and demonstrating actual and predicted (through experiments) climate change impacts. INTERACT also demonstrated its science in diplomacy by presenting at COP meetings and their side events.

• Advising and working with national governments

INTERACT partners advise Governments of e.g. Finland, Sweden, the UK, Canada and Denmark. Some concrete examples are the development of the Canadian High Arctic Research Station that was built in Cambridge Bay in 2019. The Government of Canada approached INTERACT for advice and best practices from other INTERACT research stations. Another example is the role INTERACT plays in the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Polar Regions with a main aim to inform Parliamentarians on all matters relating to the Arctic and Antarctic regions. INTERACT has also been working with the Government of the Yamal-Nenets Region and the British Embassy in Moscow, which has co-funded several meetings involving INTERACT and SecNet partners to improve science contacts between East and West (Callaghan, Shaduyko, & Kirpotin, Reference Callaghan, Shaduyko and Kirpotin2019a; Callaghan et al., Reference Callaghan, Kulikova, Rakhmanova, Topp-Jørgensen, Labba, Kuhmanen and Johansson2019b). INTERACT was approached by the Czech Government to advise on future polar strategies for the country and was represented at a Czech-Russian diplomatic meeting in St Petersburg. In Russia, INTERACT has had high visibility including from Vice Chancellors of Universities (e.g. Lomonosov Moscow State University and Tomsk State University), Governors of provinces (such as the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) and various ambassadors and Ministers of the Dumas.

The importance of INTERACT’s activities of “science in diplomacy” has been recognised by Royalty in Sweden and the UK, and Ambassadors of various countries including Canada, Russia, the USA, the Czech Republic, France and business leaders. Recognition includes support of applications by INTERACT to continue and invitations to high-level conferences. INTERACT was discussed by the European Parliament and an INTERACT station joined in major diplomacy based on its science when it hosted environment ministers and high officials from 28 countries and the European Commission in 2007. At this meeting, the INTERACT station presented its collaboration with Sámi reindeer herders to make them aware of climate change challenges on Indigenous livelihoods and wellbeing. This action of significant science in diplomacy ensured the politicians were made aware of the plight of the Indigenous people of the Arctic while the Indigenous communities greatly appreciated this important visibility and started a close, productive and lasting relationship with INTERACT.

• From field experiments to International Law

Inclusion in global and regional environmental assessments that have shaped intergovernmental policies has often been based on ground-breaking research at INTERACT research stations. Probably the world’s first experiment to predict the impacts of stratospheric ozone depletion on a natural terrestrial ecosystem was performed at the Abisko Scientific Research Station (Johanson, Gehrke, Björn, Callaghan, & Sonesson, Reference Johanson, Gehrke, Björn, Callaghan and Sonesson1995) and the research was elevated to “science in diplomacy” as the team was included in the United Nations Environment Programme Panel on Stratospheric Ozone Depletion Effects that reported to the signatories of the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments.

• Working with Indigenous Peoples and other Arctic residents

INTERACT is working directly with Indigenous Peoples and other residents in the Arctic who are often underrepresented in political systems. Indigenous Peoples lead work on local adaptation and increasing tourism in the Arctic. INTERACT has also worked together with SecNET and held workshops in Siberia where local and Indigenous Peoples have met together with scientists and local government representatives to discuss local environmental problems and solutions for sustainable adaptation plans (Callaghan et al., Reference Callaghan, Kulikova, Rakhmanova, Topp-Jørgensen, Labba, Kuhmanen and Johansson2019b). The recommendations resulting from the workshops have been used in negotiations between the Sámi community and national government. Also, INTERACT researchers use diplomacy to mediate with local government on behalf of Indigenous and local people in conflicts of interest such as in fishing and hunting (Callaghan et al., Reference Callaghan, Kulikova, Rakhmanova, Topp-Jørgensen, Labba, Kuhmanen and Johansson2019b).

• Planning future international Arctic research

INTERACT has also played a role in the three International Conferences on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP) processes that were presented in Hanover NH (USA) in 1995, Copenhagen (Denmark) in 2005 and Toyama (Japan) in 2015 and were organised by IASC. The ICARP process was initiated in the early 1990s, as the end of the Cold War enabled regional cooperation in the Arctic between Western and Russian scientists interested in the circumpolar north. In addition, this was a time when research projects started to involve collaboration among larger groups of scientists and the Arctic was seen as a region subject to rapid environmental change. Hence the need for conducting coordinated observations in an effort to understand the behaviour of Arctic systems was identified (ICARP web site, 2023). ICARP I-III have identified and integrated many key topics and priorities for future Arctic Research and INTERACT stations have played important roles in implementing these priorities. Currently, the ICARP IV process is ongoing and INTERACT will contribute with suggestions on what role the terrestrial research infrastructures in the Arctic should play in the coming 10 years.

Diplomacy for science

Research stations have joined INTERACT at different times and the stations themselves have been formed at different times. A great asset of the INTERACT network is that the oldest have been operational for more than a century and new ones have formed as interest in the Arctic has grown. INTERACT was instrumental in developing two research stations in Siberia. Sadly, against this dynamic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 resulted in a paused collaboration between 21 Russian stations and INTERACT. Within a few months, INTERACT went from a pan-arctic network to a network covering only half of the Arctic land masses. Even if the work continues with all other Arctic countries, the implications of this pause are numerous and profound.

Science for diplomacy

At the environmental level, the majority of Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic live in Russia, the longest Arctic coastline (53% of the Arctic coast line), the largest boreal forest and the greatest Arctic land area are found in Russia. Changes there are dramatic and are affecting local people through changes in water supplies (e.g. Bogdanova et al., Reference Bogdanova, Lobanov, Andronov, Soromotin, Popov, Skalny and Callaghan2023) and food (e.g. Callaghan et al., Reference Callaghan, Shaduyko, Kirpotin and Gordov2021a), while carbon emissions from permafrost thaw (e.g. Schuur et al., Reference Schuur, Abbott, Commane, Ernakovich, Euskirchen, Hugelius and Turetsky2022) and increasing forest and tundra fires (Kharuk et al., Reference Kharuk, Ponomarev, Ivanova, Dvinskaya, Coogan and Flannigan2021) have the potential to drive geographically wider impacts. To predict future changes in the Arctic, we need environmental information from Russia. The pan-arctic transnational access that developed within INTERACT during the last decade has contributed to provide important environmental data from Russia. However, the transnational access scheme is greatly impacted by the paused collaboration with Russia. Overall, the number of research stations providing transnational access decreased from 52 to 39 and the geographical coverage was greatly reduced to cover half of the Arctic.

Before the Russia/Ukraine war, INTERACT brought environmental research by about 100 Russian researchers into the Western domain (Callaghan et al., Reference Callaghan, Shaduyko, Kirpotin and Gordov2021a) and similarly, it brought researchers from the West to the East. This is now much more difficult, despite publications showing the bias in the West of even previous research away from the Russian Arctic (Metcalfe et al., Reference Metcalfe, Hermans, Ahlstrand, Becker, Berggren, Bjork and Abdi2018; Virkkala, Abdi, Luoto, & Metcalfe, Reference Virkkala, Abdi, Luoto and Metcalfe2019; Callaghan, Cazzolla Gatti, & Phoenix, Reference Callaghan, Cazzolla Gatti and Phoenix2021b) and a study that shows that the observational power of the INTERACT network of research stations is greatly reduced by omitting data from Russian stations (López-Blanco et al., Reference López-Blanco, Topp-Jørgensen, Christensen, Rasch, Skov, Arndal and Schmidt2024).

Science in diplomacy

INTERACT continues to contribute to science in diplomacy in similar way as it has done during the last decades but representing the decreased geographical area. There are some concrete examples where the work/collaboration has stopped completely. The first is a community-based environmental monitoring programme on extreme weather events in Siberia. Another example is the work related to the Arctic Council’s Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation which was on a long pause as the Arctic Council work was on pause. INTERACT was supposed to play a major role to inform about the agreement and encourage the use of it among research stations in all Arctic countries.

In all three diplomacy types mentioned above, in the past, scientists have managed to collaborate despite political tensions. The current interactions between East and West within INTERACT are more challenging than those that existed during the International Biological Programme i.e. during the Cold War. During this period, research stations in the former Soviet Union contributed to data sharing. Workshops were held in both the West (Heal, Reference Heal1971) and the former Soviet Union (Wielgolaski & Rosswall, Reference Wielgolaski and Rosswall1972) and both regions were represented by researchers. Currently, most Western institutions cannot collaborate with state-owned Russian institutions because of constraints by funding agencies, employers or personal morality. This current isolation of East and West is greater than that during the Cold War and after the annexing of Crimea because the invasion of Ukraine is the largest European war since Second World War and has global ramifications. However, collaborations between colleagues continue in some cases. Such collaborations are regarded as bridges to continue communication for the time when, hopefully, normality will return.

Conclusions