Indigenous People and local communities will be at the front of a project to develop resilience strategies to address pollution and climate change in Arctic regions.

The multidisciplinary research project - Iceberg - is led by the University of Oulu in Finland. It will study pollution and its impacts on ecosystems and communities in Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard, Norway.

Climate change and pollution including plastics, ship emissions and wastewater, are threatening human health and ecosystems in the Arctic. During the summer the researchers will collect marine litter and install time-lapse camera to monitor beach dynamics, including litter deposition and removal by the waves.

The EU-funded project is tackling these problems in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The first field studies have started in Svalbard in April 2024, and researchers have collected samples from snow pits.

“Iceberg deals with a very topical issue which is the pollution of Arctic waters resulting from climate change and human activities," says Docent Élise Lépy, Iceberg project manager, University of Oulu. "It’s an issue of global importance, because what happens in the Arctic might impact regions elsewhere on the planet.”

Schools and interested citizens will collaborate with Iceberg researchers in pollution tracking using drones, or in contributing their own observations through an interactive citizen participation mapping platform.

“Together we will build a better understanding of the local impacts of pollution and co-create new solutions for its monitoring, and co-develop strategies for mitigation and adaptation”, describes Professor Thora Herrmann, the project scientific coordinator of Iceberg. “For us, this inclusive approach is very important and ensures that the project is really tailored to address local needs and concerns.”

Icebeerg brings together researchers from different fields such as toxicology, social science, biogeochemistry, and environmental science. It aims to create recommendations for better pollution-control governance. It is funded for three years by the Horizon Europe programme and contributes to the EU mission - Restore our Ocean and Waters.