Arctic research in Canada is adapting under COVID-19 restrictions
With the longest Arctic coastline in the world and as stewards to globally important Arctic ecosystems, it is imperative that Canada continues to act a global leader in Arctic science.
Travel restrictions and new research protocols have halted southern-based and international scientists from heading to Canada’s Arctic this summer to conduct their annual field seasons, but it has not halted all research and monitoring activities. COVID-19 restrictions will create notable holes in fundamental multi-year datasets, impact national and international project deliverables, delay research priorities, impose financial and career stress on graduate students and early career researchers, and result in the loss of several million dollars in science funding. These implications are not at all trivial. But, for every door that shuts another opens. The new realities created by the pandemic are providing an overdue opportunity to shine a spotlight on Indigenous knowledge (IK), Inuit self-determination in research, and meaningful North-South science partnerships.
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