Towards Arctic Research Upholding Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

The Fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV), a once-in-a-decade global gathering on Arctic science and global affairs, is slated for 2025 in Colorado, USA. In preparation, there is an engagement process to identify knowledge gaps, research priorities, and synergies in Arctic research. In its planning, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) committed to recognizing that Traditional Knowledge, Indigenous Knowledge and academic scientific knowledge are coequal and complementary knowledge systems that all can and should inform its work. To help fulfill this commitment, the policy brief presents actionable recommendations that promote more meaningful, effective, and equitable co-production of knowledge across knowledge systems and support Indigenous-led research. By fostering greater cooperation and collaboration, these ideas outline a path for stronger research outcomes built on the exchange of diverse knowledge systems and uphold Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination.

Indigenizing Arctic research

The effects of colonialism continue to cast a pervasive influence across the Arctic research continuum, impacting research processes, findings, outcomes, and policies. To ensure that the rights of Arctic Indigenous Peoples are respected and to enhance the quality of research for all, Arctic research needs to be Indigenized. This will mean moving away from the dominant colonial structures towards genuine equity in planning and decision-making on research strategies, processes, and funding.

The Arctic is the ancestral home of diverse Indigenous Peoples, where they have generated knowledge about their territories, encompassing natural environments and reciprocal relationships. Their inherent right to self-determination includes the right to guide research processes in alignment with their values and needs, enhancing the relevance and impact of research outcomes in the process. The impacts of colonisation (expressed also in the influx of external researchers) have led to unequal power dynamics in Arctic research. While Indigenous communities and Indigenous researchers continue to conduct their own research today, they encounter numerous barriers within academic, funding, and decision-making frameworks that hinder their full and meaningful participation and leadership.

Led by the Saami Council, the policy brief was co-written and reviewed by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous circum-Arctic researchers. The policy brief presents actionable recommendations that are founded on notions of dialogue, relationship-building, and self-determination. These principles are key to ensuring ethical and effective research practices that genuinely serve to uplift the status, rights, and roles of Arctic Indigenous Peoples. Spanning five chapters, the recommendations seek to advance the parity and complementarity of Traditional Knowledge, Indigenous Knowledge, and academic scientific knowledge within research processes and deliver better research outcomes:

1. Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination as a prerequisite for high-quality Arctic research;
2. Ethics, methods and methodology as key for decolonial research; 
3. Indigenous-led research in design and practice; 
4. Indigenous Peoples’ co-equal participation in Arctic research funding structures and decision-making for securing decolonial Arctic research in practice; and 
5. Funding for Co-Creative and Indigenous-Led Arctic Research.

Funding to develop the policy brief was provided by the European Environment Initiative (EURENI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. Co-authors of the policy brief will remain involved in future engagement events of the ICARP IV process and will continue to share and dialogue about these recommendations in upcoming forums and conferences.

Holmberg, A., Morin, E., Chahine, A. S., Doering, N. N., Dudeck, S., Fisher, C., Hermansen, N., Herrmann, T. M., Ikaarvik, Kramvig, B., Omma, E. M., Riedel, A., Saxinger, G., Scheepstra, A. J. M., van der Schot, J. (2023). Towards Arctic Research Upholding Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: Recommendations for ICARP IV, the International Conference on Arctic Research Planning. Saami Council, Research Institute for Sustainability – Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, Ecologic Institute. Kárášjohka – Potsdam – Berlin. https://doi.org/10.25365/phaidra.459