Arctic Observing Summit 2020
Annie in Sirmilik National Park, Nunavut - August 2019
This year, I was welcomed to contribute to the Food Security Working Group of the Arctic Observing Summit hosted during the 2020 Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) in Akureyri, Iceland.
The Arctic Observing Summit is a biennial meeting that “aims to provide community-driven, science-based guidance for the design, implementation, coordination and sustained long-term (decades) operation of an international network of Arctic observing systems. The AOS provides a platform to address urgent and broadly recognized needs of Arctic observing across all components of the Arctic system, including the human component. It fosters international communication and the widespread coordination of long-term observations aimed at improving understanding and responding to system-scale Arctic change.”
The Food Security Working Group is led by Raychelle Daniels and focuses on Indigenous food security, Indigenous knowledge, community-based monitoring, community-driven research, and other observing mechanisms and needs. The working group has roughly 30 active members that are amazingly brilliant and dedicated researchers, Indigenous knowledge holders, and community members. I sure learned a lot just by listening.
My own takeaways from the summit:
Indigenous communities have different observing needs and priorities than researchers and at different spatial and temporal scales.
Current observing systems need to make space for information coming from Indigenous knowledge in it’s various formats, including through story-telling.
Identifying priorities for Arctic observing cannot be done without input from Indigenous communities as these communities are often contributing knowledge, collecting data, validating data, and living with the consequences of decision informed by that data.
Many obstacles continue to exist for Indigenous engagement in research and observing, including cross-cultural differences in how we share information, engage in meetings and discussions, and build consensus on the validity of information.
Many existing funding structures impede communities to effectively contribute to observing needs, including easily remedied ones such as NSF’s prohibition to using research funds to learn the primary language spoken in the study area.
There were many more lessons and discussions but some of what was spoken about is not for me to share. Look forward to future meetings and materials because I think this working group is really helping to shift the conversation about the kinds and ways of monitoring that will be important for ensuring a healthy Arctic. The next Arctic Observing Summit will take place in Tromsø, Norway during the Arctic Science Summit Week in 2022.
