Arctic Congress 2024

This session presented the culmination of two complementary works led by the CO-CREATE Collaborative that outline concrete recommendations to advance decolonial principles and uphold Indigenous rights in Arctic research: (1) the Comprehensive Policy Brief to the EU Commission – Roadmap to Decolonial Arctic Research,  and (2) Towards Arctic Research Upholding Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: Recommendations for ICARP IV, the International Conference on Arctic Research Planning. Following an introduction by the President of the Saami Council, Aslak Holmberg, the session included an overview of the CO-CREATE Collaborative and the process of co-developing the documents by Indigenous and non-Indigenous rightsholders and researchers, followed by a chapter-by-chapter review and an interactive discussion. The documents explore legal and political dimensions of Arctic research, provide practical research considerations, discuss Indigenous rightsholders’ participation in EU funding, and highlight the benefits and necessity of Indigenous-led and co-creative projects. They aim to mainstream co-creative and collaborative principles and equal partnership, with ICARP IV offering a key opportunity to implement these ideas.

Additional partners also contributed to this project. For more details on this project and their involvement, please visit the links provided.