Researchers from the Asper School of Business have won the highly coveted “KLU Young Researcher Best Paper Award”, presented at the Annual Conference of the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) 2019.

Scholars Mawuli Afenyo, Adolf K.Y. Ng, and Changmin Jiang won for their paper, “A method for assessing the socio-economic impact of oil spills in Arctic waters.”

Rapid climate related warming in the Arctic, has led to a persistent decrease in sea ice extent and type with sea ice becoming younger and thinner. Greater access has led to an increase in ship traffic associated with both transportation and oil exploration.

The method they develop, coined Socio-Economic Model for the Arctic, or SEMA, will improve the accuracy in assessing the socio-economic impacts of oil spills due to intensified shipping in the Arctic. The model offers probabilities for best and worst-case scenarios for oil spills after accounting for variables such as the type of vessel and oil spilled during shipping.

 

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