Two leading Soviet delegates to an international conference on the role of polar regions in global environmental change (Fairbanks, Alaska, June 1990) outline key issues and new research directions discussed at the conference. Seven high‐priority interdisciplinary problems were identified as warranting future intensive work: marine and continental ecosystems’ reactions to external influences, the role of wetlands in biogeochemical circulation, the dynamics of marine biota in ice‐edge environments, effects of glaciers and ice sheets on ocean level fluctuations, water circulation in the Arctic, chemistry and dynamics of the Arctic atmosphere, and interactions within the ocean‐ice‐atmosphere system.