Tourism and Arctic Observation Systems : exploring the relationships

The Arctic is affected by global environmental change and also by diverseinterests from many economic sectors and industries. Over the last decade,various actors have attempted to explore the options for setting up integratedand comprehensive trans-boundary systems for monitoring and observing theseimpacts. These Arctic Observation Systems (AOS) contribute to the planning,implementation, monitoring and evaluation of environmental change andresponsible social and economic development in the Arctic. The aim of thisarticle is to identify the two-way relationship between AOS and tourism. On theone hand, tourism activities account for diverse changes across a broad spectrumof impact fields.Onthe other hand, due to its multiple and diverse agents and farreachingactivities, tourism is also well-positioned to collect observational dataand participate as an actor in monitoring activities. To accomplish our goals, weprovide an inventory of tourism-embedded issues and concerns of interest toAOS from a range of destinations in the circumpolar Arctic region, includingAlaska, Arctic Canada, Iceland, Svalbard, the mainland European Arctic andRussia. The article also draws comparisons with the situation in Antarctica. Onthe basis of a collective analysis provided by members of the International PolarTourism Research Network from across the polar regions, we conclude that thepotential role for tourism in the development and implementation of AOS issignificant and has been overlooked