The Arctic plays an important role on our interconnected planet, though it may seem geographically isolated from the rest of the world. At this event, Patricia L. Cochran of the Alaska Native Science Commission will explain how thinning sea ice in the far north relates to melting glaciers in the Andes and the Himalayas, and to the flooding of low-lying island states. Many economic and environmental challenges the Arctic region faces result from activities of those who live well to the south; and what is happening in the northern latitudes will affect what is happening across the globe.
Patricia L. Cochran is the executive director of the Alaska Native Science Commission, an organization that brings together research and science in partnership with Alaska Native communities. Cochran also served as chair of the 2009 Indigenous Peoples" Global Summit on Climate Change and is co-chair of the Indigenous Peoples" Global Network on Climate Change. She is the past chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, an international organization representing 160,000 Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Russia and Greenland; and former chair of the Indigenous Peoples" Secretariat to the eight-nation Arctic Council. Cochran has also served as principal and co-principal investigator on numerous research projects throughout the Arctic, and has written numerous articles and publications and appeared internationally on programs reporting on climate change and indigenous issues.
