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Strengthening Arctic decision-making

GRID-Arendal; University of Lapland, Arctic Centre

Abstract

Factsheet produced by Arctic PASSION, October 2025.

Full text

www.arcticpassion.eu Prioritise Long-term Collaboration Cooperation between municipalities and regions should focus on concrete topics and actions for climate and economic transitions. Develop Arctic Specific Benchmarks and Share Best Practices Supporting progress toward sustainability in Arctic regions involves tracking how different communities are performing, identifying effective approaches, sharing successful examples and highlighting areas for improvement. Improve Access to Local Data Creating a publicly available pan-Arctic database of local planning documents improves accessibility. Promote Research-Municipality Partnerships Success stories from collaboration should be highlighted to encourage funding. Understand the Policy Landscape Research should respond to the needs of decision-makers, in a language they understand. Emphasise Socio-economic Implications Community engagement and co-creation ensures that findings are relevant and useful. Recommendations 1 2 3 4 5 6 Effective decision-making requires data and knowledge tailored to the needs of decision-makers to address specific challenges of Arctic communities For researchers For decision-makers and researchers This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101003472 Strengthening Arctic Decision-Making Simplicity of content Comparative approach Socio-economic conclusions Comprehensive interpretation Clearly identified sources and methodologies High applicability to local conditions and locally adopted standards Vardø Key Challenges Turning Data into Action Decision-makers face several obstacles when trying to use scientific information to guide their decisions. Although research institutions are eager to engage, complex procedures and limited resources often prevent local authorities from fully participating. To strengthen collaboration, institutions should adopt more flexible and streamlined approaches that ease these challenges and To ensure high-quality data informs decision-making, several approaches can help make research more accessible, understandable, and relevant to local needs. Key elements to make research results more useful, based on stakeholder consultations from 2021-2025 with 53 municipal and regional administrators. 30% 13% 9% 9% 9% 4% Main concerns of consulted experts regarding the scientific data. 26% Criteria Prioritised by Decision-Makers for Enhancing Data Understandability. Map of governing bodies or research institutions that contributed to research Lacking applicability to local conditions Lacking socio-economic conclusions in data reports Data reports are using too complicated language Insufficient data accessibility Delays in data delivery Insufficient awareness about existing data Lacking coordination of knowledge and data from different sources Clearly identified sources Comprehensive data interpretation Includes comparisons Content simplicity Clearly explained methodology Conforming with management standards