Indigenous Youth, Food Knowledge & Arctic Change (EALLU) II

With reference to the daunting challenges Arctic indigenous peoples face as a result of rapid climate change, land use change and societal changes in the north;

The society goal/main goal of the project is to maintain and further develop a sustainable and resilient reindeer husbandry in the Arctic in face of climate change and globalisation, working towards a vision of creating a better life for circumpolar reindeer herders.

Sub-goals of the project are

• To build awareness to Arctic change in northern indigenous youth societies, through enhanced resilience,
• To document, systematize, make use of and respect the Traditional Knowledge of food cultures of Arctic indigenous/ reindeer herding peoples, including the original circular aspects of their traditional economies
• To work towards knowledge building and experience exchange in and between local indigenous/ reindeer herding societies in the Arctic, focusing on food culture and youth,
• To increase focus and understanding of Arctic indigenous food cultures and value added, by disseminating and giving a voice to the Traditional Knowledge and food cultures of Arctic indigenous peoples, including by use of ReindeerPortal.org and ArcticPortal.org,
• To stimulate knowledge development for innovation, business development and local value added in Arctic indigenous peoples´ societies and areas, in appropriate ways, working in the intersection between academia and business, between science and traditional knowledge, and between “modernity” and traditions.

To these ends, the project will focus on youth involvement and engagement, seminars and place-based workshops, local capacity building, summer/ winter schools, networking, as well as co-production of project outputs by youth themselves.

This project also has an additional goal to be a sustainable project, ie. to contribute directly to capacity building in Arctic indigenous societies by virtue of the project contents and process. This project is initiated and led by Arctic indigenous peoples themselves. It shall contribute to enhancing local capacity by competence and confidence building, project experience generation and international exposure for indigenous youth. The project will also seek to highlight and revitalize the circular aspects of Arctic indigenous peoples traditional economies.

The project is thus envisioned to contribute to:

• Building resilience to effects of rapid climate change in the Arctic,
• Increased knowledge, understanding and cooperation in the Arctic,
• Improved foundations for business development and local value added,
• Active inclusion of Traditional Knowledge in the work of the Arctic Council, and
• Capacity building for indigenous peoples and their societies.

Endorsed SDWG project proposal available HERE.