Spring Event Sponsorship

Alewife Corridor Resiliency Conference: Friday Jan 19-20

Tufts University and the Earthos Institute co-sponsored an event that focused on addressing the specific vulnerability of the Alewife River watershed and floodplain to climate change. The Alewife corridor, a heavily populated area which includes several communities and cities, is especially susceptible to flooding and related concerns that are exasperated by climate change. This event, which prioritized the building of resilience strategies through working groups and an expert-led panel, saw the gathering of volunteers, city planners, state and local government officials, researchers, and many others for a day devoted to creating strategies for resiliency in their communities. To read more about this event, please follow "Alewife Resilience."

Fletcher Arctic Conference: Friday March 9

The Tufts University Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy held the 7^th Annual Arctic Conference. This conference, which brings together leaders in business, government, international law, regional artists, and sciences, prioritizes discussion on the pressing multi-disciplinary issues facing the warming and opening Arctic region and saw the gathering of over 170 professionals and students from Tufts, the greater Boston area, and the Pan-Arctic region. This year’s theme: “From Sustainability to Innovation in the Arctic” used the framework of the United Nations Agenda 2030 to discuss innovative and sustainable strategies necessary to building an adaptive approach to key issues in the Arctic region. TIE’s contribution to this stimulating conference included sponsoring the first panel of the event: “Sustainable Development Goals in an Arctic Setting,” which included researchers and representatives from Tufts, the University of Alaska, and the Polar Research and Policy Initiative (UK) which invited attendees to consider the unique challenges the Arctic region faces in the development sector and the solutions posed by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. To read more about this event, please follow "Fletcher Arctic VI."

“The Alewife Resilience Symposium was a valuable interdisciplinary event that prioritized how to bring people together to combat climate change. One of the most exciting aspects of the event was the fact that so many community members attended-from volunteers, to community workers and city planners to discuss the risks faced by the Alewife River watershed. This really brought home to me just how many angles there were to consider when developing resilience strategies and that community involvement and investment is imperative to success."

"I’m a lawyer and second year MALD focusing my Fletcher education on ‘International Law in the Arctic’. The Arctic as a region presents a range of opportunities and challenges that require an integrated law and policy approach. We developed this Conference around Sustainable Development Goals in the Arctic, as sustainability is such an important concept for holistic development of the region. While traditionally viewed as a medium to discuss economic growth parameters, we thought including the third pillar of “society” to the discussion on environment and economy in the Arctic would make the discussion ‘inclusive’. [...]The ‘Regional Actors in Northern Sustainable Development Panel’ was an excellent panel to demonstrate this collaboration. Overall, the Conference was meant to reach out to a broad audience- those already engaged in Arctic issues and for fresh exposure to the region. [...] Being a Co-Chair of the Conference [...] was very personally rewarding as the Conference was successful!"

"As a second year MALD student at The Fletcher School focusing my studies on International Environment and Resource Policy, I am particularly interested in an opening arctic brought about by climate change. Co-chairing the Fletcher Arctic Conference allowed me to do a deep dive into a subject that I have not gotten direct exposure to in a specific class. We were able to use the platform of the conference to take the subject of Arctic studies and discuss the environmental, social and economic challenges that the region is facing under the umbrella of the UN sustainable goals and the 2030 agenda. [...] Apart from assembling this diverse cohort and networking with professionals in the field, the most rewarding experience for me was in the discussion on Innovation in Arctic. This panel addressed the challenges and opportunities associated with harnessing the economic opportunity in the region such as natural resource extraction, fisheries, maritime trade, and other types of development."

Conference Reflections