Green Growth Dialogue workshop

Workshop: Sustainable Shipping in the West Nordic Region, 28 - 31 May 2016 at Ilisimatusarfik - The University of Greenland - Nuuk

Download draft programme here ..

Introduction to the workshop 

The Green Growth Dialogue is the name of a new West Nordic-Canadian network and a series of workshops in the region. It is also part of a new joint Master’s programme in West Nordic Studies, Governance and Sustainable Management which began in August 2015. The Green Growth Workshop will also function as an intensive 5 ECTS points Master’s level course.

The third Green Growth Dialogue workshop in Nuuk will focus on the theme of “Sustainable Shipping in the West Nordic Region”. Greenland is perhaps the most challenged economy of all West Nordic countries due to its geography, demography, and developmental stage. This workshop will pay special attention to Greenland’s opportunities and barriers for green growth. Sustainable hipping represents a distinct challenge for Greenland and is central to Greenland’s development path – as well as the other West Nordic countries. Shipping is central to the fishing, transportation, and tourism industries, which the West Nordic economies are highly dependent on.

The workshop format is two full days (30-31 May) with a morning and an afternoon session on a specific topic. The workshop will also include a study trip in relation to the topic (28 May). The workshop sessions will begin with a key note presentation to frame the following dialogue, which will deal with specific questions and challenges and will mix the participants in groups, so people meet and talk with people they do not usually talk with. The first two workshops have had good feedback from this format. Furthermore, the host country will be able to present own cases, but it is expected that cases have broader scope and applicability in the whole West Nordic region. Canadian researchers will contribute with broader theoretical and empirical experience.

We invite public and private stakeholders to participate in dialogue about shipping, and we also invite young people and entrepreneurs to join the workshop and lead their own discussions on other themes not necessarily related to sustainable shipping, but broadly under the main theme of green growth.

The workshop will produce working papers for policy makers and provide feedback and insight to further research on green growth and the transition to a sustainable economy.

Participation is free, but please sign up by 1 April 2016 to Maria Ackrén, maac@uni.gl.

For information about the Master’s course or ideas about other discussions please contact Lau Blaxekjær, laub@setur.fo.

Green Growth and the West Nordic – Canadian Network

Green growth is a recent global phenomenon and approach to the necessary transformation to a sustainable and green economy. Denmark and the rest of the Nordic countries have taken the lead in developing green growth in practice from the highest level of national priority and foreign policy to regional and local level, where new green growth public-private collaborations have emerged in the past few years. There are good opportunities for the West Nordic countries (including Canada) for drawing on this knowledge and experiences to move towards green growth, tailored to the specific needs and challenges of this region. To get a better and deeper understanding of green growth, barriers and opportunities for the West Nordic Region, the new West Nordic – Canadian research-based network (supported by NORA) will facilitate dialogue on green growth with relevant public and private actors. Green growth is a relatively new approach (for policy and business alike) in the West Nordic Region, but there are a growing number of local projects and experiments developing – also with the support of NORA. The network will contribute with creating stronger connections and learning between the universities and the surrounding societies. The network establishment took place as a workshop in Tórshavn 27-28 April 2015, with participants from West Nordic universities, political, industry, and civil society representatives. The second workshop took place in Reykjavik 24-26 August 2015 including participation by 16 West Nordic Studies master’s students. Furthermore, partners from Canadian universities (McGill University, Toronto University, Ottawa University, and Royal Roads University) have joined the network, and given keynote presentations and helped facilitate dialogue and development of the network. These researchers all have strong knowledge and practical experience related to topics like the transformation to the green economy, transdisciplinary research and education, and dialogue with society (including the business sector). 

The project coordinator, Lau Blaxekjær, is a leading researcher on green growth, and has previously worked together with the invited Canadian researchers through a research stay at McGill University, and participation in the international network, the Earth System Governance Project. Lau is also engaged with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an external consultant assisting with the development of global green growth partnerships.