Despite the special vulnerability of the Arctic region to climate change, young people and indigenous youth living in the Arctic continue to have minimal influence in decision-making concerning climate change and climate change adaptation.
To bring forth youth views from the Arctic to questions such as equity in climate change adaptation practices and policies, the ACAF project will hold a session titled ‘Justice and climate change – Youth views from the Arctic’ at the Nordic Youth Research Symposium (NYRIS), taking place on 12-14th June, 2024 in Tampere, Finland.
The ACAF session will present findings from youth and indigenous Sámi youth research gained in the project. The session will bring together youth representatives and researchers to discuss these results.
We welcome also other research on topics concerning Arctic youth to be peresented at the session. Please send your abstract before 19.1.2024, more information available at the NYRIS webpage:
Information about the NYRIS 2024 conference
See you at Tampere in June 2024!
Session description (also at the NYRIS webpage)
3. Justice and climate change – Youth views from the Arctic
Jaana Sorvali, Natural Resources Institute Finland; Klemetti Näkkäläjärvi, Dierpmis; Niina Kautto, Natural Resources Institute Finland
Mitigating and adapting to climate change is one of the key development challenges of the 21st century. The Arctic region is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which has increased the urgency for climate action. Still, there are groups of people central to this issue, such as youth and indigenous youth, with minimal possibilities to influence.
Young people living in the Arctic and their future children will live in a world shaped by the decisions taken now. The ACAF project proposes a session, where these results of the youth and indigenous Sámi youth research and collaboration will be presented, discussed, and broadened with complementary presentations upon similar themes.
The first step has been to know youths thoughts on climate change, the fears and hopes they have and the related justice issues. The second step is to bring youth together to discuss and find solutions that shape their common future. With a quantitative survey targeted to young people in northern Finland, Sweden and Norway, we have examined the young peoples’ views on climate change from the Arctic perspective. Building on to those results, we have deepened the knowledge with qualitative group interviews on their future hopes and dreams. In the proposed session, youth representatives and researchers come together to present a voice towards equitable future in the Arctic. We welcome also other papers on this theme to this session.