UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner talks about GRID-Arendal’s role as a partner with UNEP over the last 25 years. Steiner refers to GRID-Arendal’s ability to combine the latest science and connect it with policy in a way that supports decision-makers at UNEP. Examples of this include GRID-Arendal’s work on Arctic issues and its Rapid Response Assessments. He talks about the implications of climate change and how it could be a global “catharsis” that leads to a transition to a new kind of society. He also talks about the Arctic being an “ecological building block” for the planet and how the implications of rapid change now under way there need to be understood in global terms.

Year: 2014

Produced by: GRID-Arendal

Tags: Arctic Arendal climate change GRID-Arendal Norway RRA short video interview UNEP