IASC (founded in 1990 by member organisations of the eight arctic countries) is a non-governmental international organisation to encourage and facilitate co-operation in all aspects of arctic research. The main activity of IASC is to develop research projects for which circumarctic or international co-operation is required. IASC projects are generally funded by national sources, but there is an IASC General Fund established by annual contributions to meet common expenses.
Present IASC projects with particular relevance to indigenous peoples of the Russian Arctic are:
Land-Ocean Interactions in the Russian Arctic (LOIRA) – planning stage
A multidisciplinary research programme aimed at understanding of various natural processes in the Arctic coastal environment. Focus on the Pechora river delta. It contains the item of social and economic development of the arctic coastal zone. The project will provide a scientific and socio-economic basis for integrated management of the coastal environment. Project group: Russian. Leader: Aleksandr Lisitzin, P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Moscow.
Sustainable Development – Caribou/Reindeer Grazing Systems – planning stage
Workshop at Arctic Centre, Rovaniemi, Finland, on sustainability of grazing systems and human dependencies, February 1999. (See University of Lapland, Arctic Centre)
Environmental and Social Impacts of Industrialisation: Implication of Large Scale Energy Development in the Arctic – initial planning
The project aims at evaluating long-term processes in connection with oil-and-gas and hydropower development, identifying ongoing and planned projects and their environmental impact in critical areas, and identifying feasible comparative studies with projects outside the area. Project group: International. Leaders: Bruce Forbes, Arctic Centre, Rovaniemi, Finland; Rasmus O. Rasmussen, NORS-Nordatlantiske Regionalstudier, Roskilde, Denmark.