The Students on Ice Alumni Association has published a paper containing recommendations for promoting sustainable development in the Polar Regions.
The paper also describes some Polar Regions sustainable development challenges and solutions on a topic-by-topic basis.
May 2012: The Students on Ice Alumni Association has published a paper on the sustainable development challenges and opportunities in the Polar Regions, titled “Navigating from Rio+20 to Polar Sustainability: Solutions for Sustainable Development in the Arctic and Antarctic.” The paper explains the importance of, and threats to, the Polar Regions, and identifies gaps in the zero draft of the outcome document of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), relating to the Polar Regions.
To address these gaps, the paper recommends four actions: recognize the importance of the Polar Regions as an emerging challenge in the context of sustainable development; strive for carbon neutrality in Antarctica; recognize the rights of indigenous peoples in the context of sustainable Arctic resource development; and commit to protecting polar oceans to protect global oceans. [Publication: Navigating from Rio+20 to Polar Sustainability: Solutions for Sustainable Development in the Arctic and Antarctic]