Jasmine Sommardal has won the first prize in the Arctic essay contest organised by Helsinki Climate Forum and The Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA). Sommardal’s winning essay was titled ”Human rights climate change litigation: Pros and cons of addressing climate change in a less traditional way”.
In her essay, Sommardal wrote about the connection between the climate change and human rights. The essay was praised especially for its novel perspective. As a reward for her victory, Sommardal will receive the FIIA history book Silmän politiikkaa authored by Professor Emeritus Osmo Apunen and a one-year subscription to Ulkopolitiikka (Finnish Journal of Foreign Affairs).
In addition to the first prize, the jury granted two honourable mentions in the contest. They were given to Atte Harjanne’s essay “Luonnonvarat ja Arktiksen tuleviauus – neljä skenaariota”, and to Tomi Ståhlberg’s essay “Arktisen alueen alkuperäiskansat muutoksen keskellä”.
The essay contest was launched last May and it was part of the Helsinki Climate Forum: Arctic Urgency conference, organised on September 28th 2013 by the environmental subcommittee of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki (HYY). The essays submitted had to cover the Arctic areas and the climate change.
The essays first entered a preliminary qualification held by the organising team of the conference, and the top three essays competed for the first prize in the conference last September. The winner was selected by Mika Aaltola, the Programme Director of FIIA’s Global Security Research Programme.
FIIA congratulates the winners!