People of ICEBERG—Muriel Mercier-Bonin and Joan Nymand Larsen

Throughout the ICEBERG project, we will introduce the people working on the project. In this personnel introduction, Muriel Mercier-Bonin from INRAE and Joan Nymand Larsen from Stefansson Arctic Institute (SAI) introduce themselves and share what inspires them in ICEBERG.

In collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of researchers in ICEBERG we work on some of the bigger global and environmental issues and challenges in the Arctic today and ways forward for greater community resilience. Our interdisciplinary and field-based approach brings together a variety of perspectives, different types of knowledge, and in close collaboration with locals our research contributes to a more holistic understanding of the regions we study.

Who are we? Muriel Mercier-Bonin is an INRAE researcher interested in the impact of food contaminants on our digestive health. INRAE is the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment; INRAE’s mission is to conduct excellent science to provide innovative solutions to global challenges, in particular climate change, biodiversity and food security, while enabling the much needed agro-ecological, food and energy transitions.

Muriel´s role in the ICEBERG project is to assess the toxicological impact of emerging contaminants identified by the other members of the consortium. Our main focus is on nanoplastics. These tiny plastic particles (i.e. less than a millionth of a metre in size), whose presence in the environment was until recently considered only “highly plausible” (see below), have become the focus of environmental and ecotoxicological studies. However, little is known about their potential hazard to human health. At INRAE we are also interested in the analysis of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as ‘forever chemicals’.

Joan Nymand Larsen is a senior scientist and professor of economics and Arctic studies at the Stefansson Arctic Institute (SAI) at University of Akureyri, Iceland. Joan is interested in studying the impacts of global and environmental change on local communities and wellbeing and the ability to adapt and to find effective solutions.

SAI takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding human-environment relations in the Circumpolar Arctic. The Institute has a particular emphasis on research and scientific assessments concerning economic systems and human development, marine-resource governance, political ecology of agricultural systems, and the impacts of and adaptation to past and present climate change.

Joan´s role in the ICEBERG project is to work closely in interdisciplinary collaboration with Muriel and other ICEBERG colleagues to assess pollution and climate change induced changes observed by local and Indigenous communities in coastal and marine ecosystems and food webs in Iceland and South Greenland.

One of the key questions we are looking at is the perceived and locally observed impacts, risks and vulnerabilities of stressors on ecosystem health, food security and safety, human health and well-being, and local land- and sea-use practices. Also, we are working on preparing for the co-development of participatory scenarios and solutions for identifying adaptation and increased ecosystem and community resilience strategies.

The Arctic is severely affected by many pressures, including climate change and pollution. It is predicted to be a sink for plastic pollution with little capacity to deal with it adequately. Nanoplastics have been detected in Swedish and Siberian surface waters, and in polar ice, particularly in Greenland. The Arctic is also vulnerable to PFAS due to its proximity to industrialised regions and transport via air and ocean currents. It is therefore crucial to evaluate the toxicological effects of these selected contaminants to better assess the health risks to the Indigenous Peoples of the European Arctic.

"One of the interesting things is to work closely with local community residents and to work in co-production to identify solutions to changes in the environment that affect their daily lives."

In the context of global and environmental changes and societal impacts it is critical to assess from an interdisciplinary perspective the overall risks to the wellbeing of local communities. One of the interesting things is to work closely with local community residents and to work in co-production to identify solutions to changes in the environment that affect their daily lives.

An interesting aspect of the project is its interdisciplinarity and the close stakeholder engagement and dynamic dialogues with local communities, including trust building and different types of knowledge. It provides for a much richer understanding of the issues and allows for many diverse perspectives. This is an important step in developing a holistic overview of the local contexts, getting to know the different disciplines that we collaborate with, and to develop a better understanding of different approaches and research questions.

"The complexity of issues and challenges in the Arctic calls for interdisciplinary work."

We hope the progress made in the ICEBERG project, with its interdisciplinary approach between the natural sciences and the humanities and social sciences, will provide insights that will feed into the global treaty on plastics that is currently being negotiated. We hope to learn more about human health, especially the health of Indigenous People women, children and adolescents, which is clearly a priority area for the treaty and beyond, and to develop opportunities for research and Citizen Science activities which will help highlight the critical impacts and risks to communities of global and environmental change.

Our interdisciplinary approach is important because of the big and complex questions we focus on and their cross-sectoral and wide scope. This approach enables us to gain a more holistic overview and will ultimately make it possible to reach a broader audience and hopefully contribute to a larger societal impact.

The complexity of issues and challenges in the Arctic calls for interdisciplinary work. It helps us produce science that provides a more holistic and accurate picture of reality, and that enables us to work towards finding answers to the many of the more complex questions facing the Arctic today. This includes the socio-economic and health related impacts of global and environmental change.