Donors Pledge $41M to Watch Arctic Permafrost Thaw

Climate scientists, policy experts and environmental justice advocates announced a major project Monday to better understand the contribution of thawing permafrost to global warming and help Arctic communities cope with its effects.

Led by the Massachusetts-based Woodwell Center for Climate Research, the 6-year, $41 million project will fill the gaps in tracking greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost across the Arctic, currently a source of uncertainty in climate models. The project is funded by private donors, including billionaire philanthropists. Mackenzie Scott.

With the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and the Alaska Institute of Justice, the project will also develop policies to help reduce the global impact of permafrost emissions and help Native communities locally in Alaska struggling with land thaw and problems arising from it.

“The good part of it is science,” said Sue Natali, a permafrost researcher, director of the Arctic program at Woodwell, and one of the leaders of the new project. Permafrost Paths. “But really, it’s important for us to make sure our science is really useful and available where it’s needed.”

Permafrost, the frozen soil that underlies much of the Arctic and can be hundreds of feet deep, contains plant and animal remains that have accumulated over the centuries. As the region’s rapid warming causes more of the top frozen layer to thaw, organic matter decomposes and releases carbon dioxide and methane.

Permafrost is thought to contain about twice as much carbon than currently found in the atmosphere. However, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Noted as part of the Sixth Assessment Report last yearThe extent and timing of emissions from thawing permafrost is uncertain.

““This uncertainty has been a major barrier to incorporating permafrost emissions into global climate policy.”

John Holdren, the White House science adviser to the Obama administration and director of the Arctic Initiative at the Belfer Center, said better measurements used to develop improved models “could just help us put together a more complete picture of what.” but it will give us a better capacity to envision what is likely to happen in the future.”

Permafrost thaw doesn’t just have global effects. Locally throughout the Arctic, it has caused roads, bridges, homes and other structures built on frozen ground to become unstable and unusable. The melting of permafrost has also caused further erosion, leading to land subsidence and flooding.

Robin Bronen, an Anchorage-based human rights lawyer and executive director of the Alaska Institute of Justice, said the project will address these issues in coordination with some Alaska Native communities. Few coastal communities in the state I’ve been trying to move for years..

The project will work to develop a governance framework for relocation, he said, “to establish a process for communities to make these decisions about where they can stay, based on the environmental data they need, Indigenous knowledge and science.” these.”

Dr. Noting that permafrost melting continues and people are affected by it, Natali said, “People have to move or upgrade their homes to deal with it.” “And there’s no support for that.”

The project is funded through the Audacious Project, a collaborative funding group that is an offshoot of the idea-sharing organization TED.

“That’s a lot of money,” said Dr. Holdren, although not as much as some might think, given the $41 million spread over six years. “And I think we’ll be able to do some very good things with it.”