The United Kingdom may not be an Arctic nation, but it has a unique perch on the front line of the dramatic change reshaping the polar north. The U.K. government now is preparing to unveil an Arctic policy framework, its own version of the strategy documents put forth by nations in the thick of decision-making over the resource scramble and imperative for Arctic protection. (See the U.S. version here.)

That’s why National Geographic went to London this week to convene the latest roundtable event in its Great Energy Challenge initiative. The initiative is sponsored by Shell, a company that is in the center of the Arctic debate. For our event, The Arctic: The Science of Change, we brought together