Envisioning the Future of the Earth from the Arctic- Activities of the Arctic Transdisciplinary Community of Practice Yuka YOSHIDA1, Fujio OHNISHI1
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Arctic Research Center, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, JapanAbstract
In the ArCS II’s Research Program on International Relations, we have established and are running the Arctic
Transdisciplinary Community of Practice (ACP) as part of its social implementation effort. It constitutes acommunity that people across disciplines, including researchers, businesspeople, and students who are interested inthe Arctic region, can come together to discuss and exchange information on Arctic issues. This paper introduces thebackground of the community's launch, summarizes its daily activities, and prospects for next steps.
Key words: Arctic, transdisciplinary, community of practice, ArCS II,
1.

Introduction
The purpose of the Arctic TransdisciplinaryCommunity of Practice (ACP) is to promote theunderstanding of various social issues that arise in theArctic region due to the effects of climate change, andto promote efforts to solve these issues throughdialogue, collaboration, and co-creation across theboundaries of different fields.
Launched in September 2021, the ACP currently has
about 30 members, including researchers from ArCS II,
people from private companies, university students, andothers interested in and involved in the Arctic. This
paper introduces the background of the community's
launch, summarizes its daily activities, and prospects
for next steps.

actors/stakeholders such as state authorities, localauthorities, non-profit organizations, indigenous groups
and scientists, and on contributing to Japan’s Arctic
policy. 2

2.2 Definition of ‘Transdisciplinary Community ofPractice’
The community of practice means communities
that are built around a certain theme in order to promotelearning among its members, to share and createknowledge, or to interact with people acrossdisciplinary boundaries. 3
In implementing this community, we place
importance on encouraging dialogue, informationexchange, and mutual learning across disciplinary
boundaries, recognizing the differences of cultural,institutional, and individual worldviews among
members of different disciplines and fields. There isalso the term trans-disciplinary community of practice,which refers to a community of practice in which
various sectors of academia and society work together
to consider solutions to problems. The ACP is atransdisciplinary community of practice.

2. Background
2.1 About the ArCSII International Relations“The Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II (ArCS II)
is a national flagship project for Arctic research and a
successor to the Arctic Challenge for Sustainability(ArCS) project that operated from fiscal 2015 to 2019.”“The ArCS II has four strategic goals and 11 research
programs. ”“ The project will take place overapproximately four and a half years, from June 2020 toMarch 2025, primarily through the collaboration ofthree institutions: the National Institute of Polar
Research (NIPR), the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth
Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), and Hokkaido
University.” 1 In order to further accelerate legacies ofthe first ArCS program, the Research Program onInternational Relations (RP-IR) aims to introduce afollow-up system for discussions at the Arctic Council,
as well as build a transdisciplinary community ofpractice to lead the implementation of adaptation
measures in the Arctic among Japanese stakeholders.
To this end, we conduct researches on elucidating thecomplex dynamics of Arctic politics among diverse

2.3 Preparation process to launch the community
An initial idea to launch the community of practiceamong experts relating with the Arctic emerged inconversations between Fujio Ohnishi, the PI of theArCSII International Relations, and Minori Takahashi,
the vice PI. The idea was installed in the planningdocuments of the RP-IR. However, substantial
preparations started during the winter of 2020 when thesecretariat was formed. Since then, the secretariat
intensively discussed to clarify the concept and target
audience, which resulted in the term of reference (ToR)of the community. 4 At the same time, we created awebsite for the community and opened a call for
members in September 2021.

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individuals who agree with the objectives of the community and wish to participate in the activities. 5
The ACP engages in various activities including
networking, workshops, information dissemination,seminars. Networking provides a forum for informationexchange and promotes spontaneous interaction amongmembers. The workshops facilitate sharing experiences
and information, group learning, comparing casestudies (e.g., adaptation measures), and identifying bestpractices. We also disseminate information andactivities related to this community on the officialwebsite, SNS, etc. We engage activities such as talking
sessions for the public. It shows an interim outreach
event aimed to inform the public about past communityactivities and expanding interest in the Arctic region 6.
So far, we have organized three workshops withcommunity members（see the Table 2）and a public
talking session. In addition, a public talking session washeld as an interim outreach event aimed at advertising
the public about past community activities andexpanding interest in the Arctic region.

Main visual image of the WEB site.

In order to disseminate the idea and recruit
members, we held three public talking events fromDecember 2021 to March 2022 (see the Table 1).
Participants can talk with the guests during the timefor questions and answers. Each event is attended by
50 to 70 people. We have had a wide range ofparticipants,
includingresearchersandbusinesspeople from outside Hokkaido, as well as
high school students.

3.1 Workshops
The first workshop was held on 10 June 2022 withthe purpose of allowing members to get to know eachother. In the first half of the workshop, a person whoworks for resource and energy industry, and a former
professor in cultural anthropology told stories related to
the Arctic region as seen through their work andresearch. In the second half, members of the grouptalked about what they felt after listening to thestorytelling from their own perspectives. Various
opinions were exchanged, and the workshop provided
an opportunity to think not only about the Arctic region
but also about the future of the Earth. 7
The second workshop was held on 29 July 2022 in a
hybrid format, with members gathering at the Sapporoand Tokyo sites, respectively, and connecting via Zoom.
After listening to a talk on ‘The World of Multispecies
Ethnography’ by a cultural anthropologist lecturer, weconnected the two sites for work. Participants at theTokyo site asked about misconceptions among thepublic from the standpoint of researchers and others,
and based on this, the student participants at theSapporo site thought about how to solve themisconceptions and presented their ideas.
Thisworkshop provided an opportunity for people fromdifferent fields, including researchers, companies, andstudents, to think about the connection with the Arctic
while in Japan and to interact and connect with eachother. 8The third workshop was held on 21 December 2022.
Members talked with each other on the theme of ‘Let'stalk about the Arctic together! The Arctic from yourpoint of view and the connection between the Earth andTable 1. List of the talking events
ThemeDateGuests
Arctic Adventurer 9 Dec. Arctic Adventurer
2021&
Arctic Researcher
Arctic Business
28 Jan. 3 businesspeople2022
who are active on&
the front lines of the
Arctic Researcher
Arctic business
Arctic Researcher
17
3 PIs of the&Mar.
Research Programs
Arctic Researcher
2022of the ArCS II(Ocean RP,Teleconnection RP,Arctic Sea RoutesRP)

Graphic recording of the 1st talking event.

3.

Members and Activities
The member of the ACP consists of organizations or2

connected by the keyword ‘Arctic’. Its membershiptranscends fields. Each event provided an opportunity
to reconsider the Arctic region by listening to different
perspectives and narratives. Through the workshops,
the importance of not only data and objective
explanations, but also a subjective awareness of how
one faces the Arctic and how it relates to one's own life,
emerged as an essential part of the understanding of theArctic issues. This paved ways to place more attention
on societal relations with and narratives on the Arctic in
Japan or countries located in the mid-latitude. Thisimplies that we need to explore embedded political,commercial, cultural, and educational practices inrelations to the Arctic. The community will continue toexplore what means by the ‘Arctic-nesses’ for Japanesepublic.
In improving or enriching the dialogue, we further
diversify our member attributes and increase thenumber of participants in each workshop. So far,participation from non-profit organizations, government
offices, and local governments has remained at low.
Therefore, the community continues to recruit newmembers. In addition, due to the COVID-19, there werefew opportunities for members to interact with eachother face to face. We will also pay attention to create
an environment where members can meet physicallyand build a trust each other. We believe in that ourcommunity would explore unique approaches toimagine and address the future of the Earth through theArctic region.

the world’. Our members were divided into small teams
in a ‘world café’ style and had time to share our insights
delving into each person's thoughts on the Arctic region.
This workshop provided members an opportunity torethink the Arctic region through dialogue. 9 The fourthworkshop is supposed to be held on 1 February 2023.
Table 2. List of workshops

1st WS
2nd WS
3rd WS
4th WS

Date
10 Jun. 2022
29 Jul. 2022
21 Dec. 2022
1 Feb.2023

Formatstorytellingstorytellingworld café
world café

Graphic recording of the 1st workshop.

3.2 Public talking sessionsThe first talking session was held on 7 October 2022
on the theme of Arctic ice and people living in theArctic and was broadcast via YouTube Live. After
listening to talks by a biogeochemist and two cultural
anthropologists in the form of a dialogue, all thespeakers and listeners exchanged ideas and opinions on
how to define wellness and flame issues in the Arctic
context. 10 The second session is planned to be held on
6 March 2023. We will have dialogues among Arctic
researchers, social entrepreneurs and artists.

Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Arctic Challenge for
Sustainability II (ArCS II), Program Grant Number
JPMXD1420318865.
Summary in Japanese
和文要約

北極域から地球の未来を創造する－北極域実践コミュニティの活動紹介－
吉田 友香 1, 大西 富士夫 114.

北海道大学北極域研究センター

Graphic recording of the 1st talking session.

ArCS II 国際政治課題では、社会実装プロジェクトの一環として「北極域実践コミュニティ」というコミュニティを立ち上げ、運営している。北極域に関心のある研究者や企業の方、学生など、分野の垣根を超えた人たちが集まって、北極域の課題について話し合い、情報交換の場を提供している。本稿では、コミュニティ立ち上げの経緯から日々の活動内容、今後の展望について紹介する。

Concluding remarks
The community is made up of people who are

Correspondence to:
Yuka YOSHIDA, y.yoshida@arc.hokudai.ac.jp

3WEB SITE, https://tdcop.arc.hokudai.ac.jp/Copyright ©2023 The Okhotsk Sea & Polar Oceans
Research Association. All rights reserved.

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松本雄一「実践共同体の学習」白桃書房、2019 年、1 頁。See also, Vincent, K., A. Steynor, K. Waagsaether,and T. Cull. 2018. Communities of practice: One size does
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