Speaking: Dr. Lawson Brigham
The Russian North and the maritime Arctic are critically important to the future of the Russian state. This vast, cold region should be viewed from three key perspectives: national security, environmental change, and economic development. Russia's long, open border to the Arctic Ocean is a strategic vulnerability as well as a coastline that provides essential maritime access to a remote but developing region (and access to one largest storehouses of global natural resources). Great environmental change and extraordinary industrial development are happening in this region creating a suite of complex impacts and contradictions. This talk will highlight the complexities and uncertainties of the Russian maritime Arctic.
Bio
Lawson Brigham is a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center and a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. A career U.S. Coast Guard officer he commanded the icebreraker Polar Sea on Arctic and Antarctic expeditions and also chaired the Arctic Council's Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment. He received his PhD in polar oceanography from Cambridge University and has focused his research on the Russian Arctic, polar marine safety and environmental protection.