Speaker: Anne Henshaw, PhD, Oak Foundation
In the mainstream media, images of polar bears perched on pans of melting ice continue to be emblematic of climate change and its immediate threats. While visually effective, do polar bears serve as an appropriate symbol for highlighting vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change, especially for the 400,000 Indigenous Peoples who call the region home? As the multi-year sea ice continues to show remarkable decline and the ocean becomes more accessible, communities face increased pressures from industrial scale development, and a regulatory environment not well matched with the pace and scope of the changes taking place. Drawing on her experiences as a Program Officer for a private foundation and an anthropologist, Anne’s talk will overview recent developments in the Arctic, as well as the challenges and opportunities for advancing self-determination and resilience in a changing Arctic context.
Anne Henshaw joined Oak Foundation in 2007 as a Programme Officer for the Marine Conservation Sub-Programme focusing on small scale fisheries. She currently oversees grant making in the Arctic with a primary focus on Alaska, Arctic Canada and Greenland. She has a special interest in supporting the rights of indigenous peoples in building their capacity to support and community-led conservation, food sovereignty, co-management as well as to engage in international governance policy forums at the UN and the Arctic Council. Anne also serves as Chair for the Climate Justice Resilience Fund, a new international funding platform to support Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth in community-led rights-based approaches to advance adaptation and resilience to climate change.
Prior to joining Oak Foundation, Anne was a visiting Professor in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Bowdoin College from 1996-2007, and director of Bowdoin’s Coastal Studies Center from 2000-2007. Anne holds a PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, magma cum laude, from the University of New Hampshire. The results of her work have been published in a variety of peer reviewed journals and international venues including the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment and the International Panel on Climate Change.
