Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee
The Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) is chartered as a subcommittee under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC).
The Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1984 (ARPA), Public Law 98-373, July 31, 1984, as amended by Public Law 101-609, November 16, 1990, provides for a comprehensive national policy dealing with national research needs and objectives in the Arctic. The ARPA establishes an Arctic Research Commission (ARC) and an Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) under the National Science Foundation to help implement the Act. IARPC was formally created by Executive Order 12501. Its activities are coordinated by the National Science Foundation (NSF), with the Director of the NSF as chair.
A July 2010 Presidential Memorandum redefined the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee as an Interagency Working Group of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainability (CENRS). The IARPC operates under the guidelines established by the NSTC for an interagency working group and reports directly to the CENRS.
IARPC, which consists of principals from 16 agencies, departments, and offices across the Federal government, is charged with enhancing both the scientific monitoring of, and research on, local, regional, and global environmental issues in the Arctic. In order to meet the Nation’s economic, scientific, and environmental needs, IARPC envisions a prosperous, sustainable and healthy Arctic understood through research coordinated among Federal agencies and domestic and international collaborators.
Need for IARPC
In recent years, the Federal Government has taken increased interest in the Arctic driven largely by the profound impacts of climate change on national security, military preparedness, transportation needs, natural resource management, and energy security in the region. All of these issues bear on science and technology. In addition, a wide range of agencies are now working in, and focused on, the Arctic, requiring greater interagency collaboration and coordination.
See the Charter of the IARPC.