Nancy Doubleday is the Hope Chair in Peace and Health at McMaster University. She also chairs the Cold Region Environments Commission of the International Geographical Union.

Last Thursday, five Arctic nations (USA, Canada, Russia, Greenland-Denmark and Norway) signed an accord to prohibit commercial fleets from conducting industrial fishing in the Central Arctic.

This action demonstrates that social learning in complex systems is not only possible, but that it can find political will and express itself.

It also reaffirms visions of cooperation articulated by Inuit organizations, scientists and politicians, both nationally and internationally, for many decades.