27 March 2025 | 10:30 - 12:00 (MDT)
Open Session - HYBRID
Room: UMC Third Floor - 386
Organisers: Andrey N Petrov (ARCTICenter, University of Northern Iowa, USA)
Session Description:
This session will gather a diverse group of scholars to discuss the current developments and future agenda in Arctic sustainability research. An increasing volume of sustainability scholarship in the decade since ICARP III that addresses a variety of challenges from local community resilience to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals indicates continuing interest to and a rapid growth of the Arctic sustainability science. In the last several years major developments have happened in respect to ontological, epistemological, methodological and practical approaches to sustainability in the Arctic. They added new conceptualizations and visions of sustainability, as well as elevated the Indigenous perspectives on sustainability and knowledge co-production methodologies as central pillars of sustainability research. This session will contribute to the ICARP IV process by considering key accomplishments, knowledge gaps and future directions of Arctic sustainability research.
Instructions for Speakers: Oral presentations in this session should be at most 10-minutes in length, with an additional 2-3 minutes for questions (unless more detailed instructions are provided by session conveners). See more detailed presenter instructions here.
Oral Presentations:
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unfold_moreTraditional Land-based Learning and Practice as a Tool for Environmental Sustainability in Canadian Arctic Indigenous Communities — Ranjan Datta & Ellen Firth
Ranjan Datta 1; Ellen Firth 2; Felix Nwaishi 1
1 Mount Royal University; 2 Inuvik CommunityFormat: Oral in-person
Abstract:
This paper examines the critical role of traditional land-based learning and practices in promoting environmental sustainability within Arctic Indigenous communities in Canada. For generations, Indigenous peoples in the Arctic have developed a deep understanding of their land, climate, and ecosystems through traditional knowledge systems. Land-based learning, which involves engaging with the natural environment through hunting, fishing, foraging, and ceremonial practices, fosters a reciprocal relationship with nature. It encourages the sustainable use of resources, helping to protect fragile Arctic ecosystems from overexploitation and degradation. The presentation will highlight case studies from Arctic Indigenous communities where land-based learning could be successfully applied to enhance environmental sustainability. These case studies show how traditional practices such as community hunting protocols, fishing, wildlife management, and seasonal harvesting not only preserve cultural heritage but also serve as effective strategies for adapting to the impacts of the climate crisis. The presentation will address the challenges posed by external pressures, including industrial development, climate crisis (including high permafrost degradation), and government policies, which often undermine Indigenous land-based learning as a way to achieve environmental sustainability. Despite these challenges, Indigenous-led land-based knowledge is proving vital for environmental sustainability and resilience in the Arctic. This paper argues that integrating traditional land-based learning and practices into broader environmental sustainability frameworks is essential for ensuring the long-term survival of both Arctic ecosystems and the cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples. By recognizing and supporting Indigenous land-based knowledge systems, policymakers and environmental organizations can work towards a more sustainable and equitable future in the Arctic.
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unfold_moreIndigenous Voices, Knowledge, and Land-Based Education to Mediate Climate Change: A Decolonial Reflective Journey of an Antiracist, Racialized Woman in Canada — Jebunnessa Chapola
Jebunnessa Chapola 1
1 Mount Royal University, Calgary, CanadaFormat: Oral in-person
Abstract:
Climate change is a socially constructed, human-made global problem, it is the result of racism, capitalism, and colonialism. People in marginalized and low-income groups are first to feel the effects of climate change. A number of social groups are more susceptible to crises than others. These include households headed by women, children, people with disabilities, migrant workers, homeless people, people of color in terms of sexual orientation and gender identity, older people, and other marginalized groups in society.When discussing adaptations and solutions to climate change, many Indigenous community members recommend practicing traditional Indigenous knowledge, treating the land with respect, and using it gently. Indigenous communities are more likely to experience the adverse effects of climate change compared to the non-Indigenous population due to the impacts of colonization and their direct connection to the land, they live on the land. My research will explore what we can learn from Indigenous ways of knowing and being about how to live more reciprocally with the natural world through land-based education. Using an anti-racist, decolonial, reflective learning research framework, my presentation will demonstrate how the Indigenous meaning of land and land-based education is deeply interconnected with climate change resilience research and solutions. As a decolonial, anti-racist feminist researcher, I aim to share my decolonial learning experiences on how to reclaim and rebuild land-based relationships and daily practices. This presentation also advocates for the importance of prioritizing Indigenous traditional knowledge and how Indigenous epistemology can help non-Indigenous people take responsibility to respect the land, water, fire, rocks and non-humans.
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unfold_moreTowards the Development of Ocean Solution Networks: Identifying the Largest Corporations of the Arctic Ocean Economy — Tibor Vegh
Tibor Vegh 1
1 Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke UniversityFormat: Oral in-person
Abstract:
Established and emerging sectors in the ocean economy are growing rapidly as part of the “blue acceleration”. These sectors include established industries such as offshore oil and gas, shipping, and offshore wind; emerging sectors include seabed mining and marine carbon dioxide removal. The Arctic has seen growth in relevant ocean economy sectors such as oil, gas, and mineral exploration and extraction, shipbuilding, tourism, and seafood. To help address the ecological impacts of the “blue acceleration” of industrial activity in the ocean, and given the limitations of what governments and other collective institutions have achieved to date, both scholars and policy-makers have also begun to consider the potential of the global financial services sector to influence the ocean economy. These global ocean sustainability challenges, and the recognition of locally-defined priorities jointly indicate the need for globally integrated, yet locally-focused development of planning approaches toward optimal solutions. The broader aim of this project is to inform and facilitate Ocean Solution Networks: cross-sector, multi-stakeholder, science-driven solution networks that outline and coalesce around pressing ocean challenges, where there is opportunity of greatest progress in the shortest amount of time. To that end, as an initial step towards the development of these networks, this project uses publicly available corporate databases to identify the largest corporations by total revenue that operate in the Arctic ocean economy, map their underlying financial networks, and based on published gaps in corporate environmental impact reporting frameworks suggests ways forward toward a more complete reporting on their impacts on ocean ecosystems.
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unfold_moreSustainability Beyond Hot Air? Critical raw materials supply for the 'green' transition — Gerti Saxinger
Gerti Saxinger 1,2; Ellen Marie Jensen 2; Emma Wilson 3,2
1 University of Vienna; 2 Austrian Polar Research Institute APRI; 3 ECW EnergyFormat: Oral in-person
Abstract:
Research on resource extraction has become an established field in Arctic Studies over the past two decades. This research has been largely concerned with social, environmental and (neo-)colonial impacts on Indigenous and local communities, as well as on agency and the participatory aspects of industrial activities. Questions arise about whether sustainability and resource extraction are contradictory, or whether there are ways to make the structures around extractive industries more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive. This current energy transition brings new dimensions to sustainability debates as renewable energy and digital technologies require a fundamental increase in the extraction of critical raw materials (CRM), including in the Arctic.
In this paper, we highlight the discrepancies and dissonances in sustainability and energy transition discourses and practices that are still embedded in an economic model that outsources the social and environmental costs of mining for energy transitions to local people in (mostly rural) zones of industrial development; this model largely benefits societies in (mostly urban) centres of mineral consumption in the West and in emerging economies, whose populations increasingly want to 'go green' to achieve a 'green' energy transition and a post-carbon future. We expose the ‘hot air’ in discussions of CRM and the energy transition which form part of larger sustainability discourses. We highlight the colonial contexts of Arctic Indigenous communities who are exposed to the rush and race for resources in their homelands - i.e. green extractivism. This paper also contributes to anchoring research around Arctic resource extraction within the ICARP IV process.
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unfold_moreBuilding Future of Arctic Sustainability Research Through An Indigenous Lens — Stanislav Ksenofontov
Stanislav Ksenofontov 1; Andrey Petrov 1
1 ARCTICenter, University of Northern IowaFormat: Oral in-person
Abstract:
Indigenous understanding of sustainability is embedded in close relations to land and waters, Indigenous Knowledge systems, Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies, and Indigenous languages. However, the sustainability of Indigenous Peoples’ livelihoods is significantly affected by various global change drivers. In the Arctic, the Indigenous Peoples’ livelihoods are impacted by environmental, social, political and cultural changes, including climate change, environmental pollution, economic processes, and resource extraction. This presentation aims to review and synthesize recent academic and gray literature on the sustainability of Indigenous communities in Sakha Sire (Sakha homelands), Northeast Siberia, Russia in the face of global change with a particular focus on land- and water-based traditional activities, native language, and the Indigenous Knowledge system.
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unfold_moreTowards Arctic Sustainability Research Agenda 2035 (ICARP IV, IPY-5 and Beyond) — Andrey Petrov
Andrey Petrov 1
1 ARCTICenter, University of Northern IowaFormat: Oral in-person
Abstract:
This presentation discusses recent developments in Arctic sustainability research in order to solicit most important trends and define priorities for Arctic sustainability research for the next decade. We examine conceptual, epistemological, methodological, and practice transitions associated with shifting the paradigm of sustainability towards community-driven and co-produced concepts. Sustainability research in the Arctic necessitates an equitable dialogue among diverse knowledge systems including Indigenous ways of knowing, sciences, arts and local knowledge. The paper traces the evolution of sustainability research from multi-to transdisciplinary, from community-placed to co-produced, from loosely linked to practice to convergent, from a predominately natural science-driven research to an interconnected arts, sciences, local and Indigenous knowledge. The study reviews diverse visions of sustainability, both Indigenous and western, and identifies methodological shifts, including examples of novel methodologies associated with knowledge co-production processes. Based on this analysis, the paper defines the persistent gaps and pathways for advancements in Arctic sustainability research for community well-being in the next decade, and discusses their implications for ICARP IV and IPY-5. The presentation will also report on the results of Arctic-FROST Network brainstorming about the future agenda for Arctic sustainability sciences and collectively identified research priorities.
Poster Presentations (during Poster Exhibit and Session on Wednesday 26 March):
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unfold_moreAssessment for the potential emergence of microbiological risks in an Arctic ecosystem undergoing dynamic change — Hyunkyo Seo
Hyunkyo Seo 1
1 Korea Polar Research InstituteFormat: Poster in-person
Poster number: #56
Abstract:
The Arctic Environment is rapidly changing with global warming so that sea-ice decreases and permafrost thaws. The potential risks by harmful microbes that emerge from the permafrost thaw can threaten the human, (crop) plant and animal health not only in the Arctic but in non-Arctic areas. Especially, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has brought up concerns about the potential emergence of new pandemics that could be caused by unknown pathogens to affect human health. In light of this, Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries launched the project titled “Assessment for the potential emergence of the microbiological risks in an Arctic ecosystem undergoing dynamic change” in 2020 and the second phase of the project is underway.
This project aims to contribute to Arctic Sustainability and Welfare through understanding the potential outbreak of harmful microorganisms and their mechanisms based on ‘One Health approach’ concept at local, national, regional, and global levels. That is (1) to set a risk-management system by developing the rapid detection methods for harmful microorganisms and (2) to do risk assessment & preparedness through comprehending the distribution and activation mechanism in the circum-Arctic region.
Through this project, KOPRI seeks to contribute to Arctic health issues and join the Arctic Council SDWG’s main program ‘One ArcticOne Health’ by providing and sharing research results. We also intend to strengthen and expand our collaborations with Arctic research groups involved in One Health research to contribute to both Arctic and Global health issues.
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unfold_moreThe sustainability of the Arctic. Strategic perspectives on current developments and future directions — Sandra Balão
Sandra Balão 1
1 CAPP/FCT-ISCSP, Universidade de LisboaFormat: Poster in-person
Poster number: #510
Abstract:
Today, the Arctic is a critical region for global strategic interests. Particularly influenced by environmental changes, the increasing accessibility of resources and the profound transformation of geopolitical scenarios, it is of relevance and interest to examine the intersection between security, environmental management and sustainable development objectives towards the latest reference model of the ‘Whole of Society’ in articulation with the underlying concerns of resilience.
Recent trends reveal growing competition for Arctic resources. Such a status quo requires a nuanced understanding of sustainability, so the impact of climate change on regional stability, the role of governance models or the implications of indigenous rights on resource management, as well as war, will be issues to explore.
Strategic challenges include the militarization of the Arctic, its consequences for environmental sustainability and the potential for collaborative approaches between Arctic states and non-state actors. This option will make it possible to highlight innovative strategies that balance national interests with the imperatives of sustainable development.
Discussing Arctic sustainability using a comprehensive framework that integrates strategic analysis with sustainability objectives is new and relevant.
The main goal of this proposal is to approach Arctic sustainability in the context of strategic studies and seek to promote a future-oriented agenda that addresses the complexities of sustainability in an evolving geopolitical environment.