Arctic youth recommendations at EU Arctic Forum and Indigenous Peoples’ Dialogue

Launched in January 2024, Youth Together for Arctic Futures is a four-year EU-funded project aimed to support Arctic and European youth with knowledge, skills, and opportunities to work towards implementing good climate and nature policy for the Arctic. During the Arctic Youth Dialogues event in Brussels, youth, alongside Arctic policymakers and experts, developed policy recommendations to prepare for their presentation during the EU-Arctic Youth Dialogue on 15 May. Here you will find their recommendations.

Over two days, 32 youth have crafted policy recommendations across four Arctic-specific themes: youth-inclusive planning and decision-making, economic incentives for nature protection and conservation, management of Arctic Oceans, and climate adaptation. We present specific recommendations in these areas and advocate for cross-cutting actions throughout Arctic policy.

The inclusion of Arctic youth in decision-making processes at all levels of Arctic policy should be prioritized. It is critical to strengthen the meaningful inclusivity of Indigenous Peoples in all levels of Arctic governance by valuing traditional knowledge systems and practices, advocating for the representation of non-state entities, advancing language inclusivity in all steps of the policy making process, and creating spaces for multi-directional capacity sharing. EU Arctic policies with societal impact should be based on the precautionary approach, with consensus-driven codification by relevant stakeholders.

These recommendations are a starting point and reflect our brief but intensive discussions during the Arctic Youth Dialogue event. The EU-funded Youth Together for Arctic Futures project will continue to provide youth-defined policy recommendations over the next four years. We are looking forward to continuing the EU-Arctic Youth Dialogue and seeing how our voices will shape our collective Arctic future.

Youth-inclusive planning and decision-making for the Arctic

Continuous and culturally sensitive consultation with Arctic youth in decision-making processes at all levels should be the norm and implemented through representative institutional Arctic youth advisory bodies. To lower entry barriers to such opportunities for youth participation and to ensure availability and access to networking, we call on the EU to:

1. Bring Arctic youth-oriented institutional leaders and decision-makers to the Arctic to directly and continually engage with youth in their communities.
2. Enable constructive Arctic youth participation and similar opportunities to engage youth, regardless of background. This can be done through strengthened capacity building, educational crash courses, institutional internships, and in general, by providing Arctic youth with the skills to articulate and communicate what they need to be further valued at the table and in the spaces they inhabit.
3. Examine existing Arctic non-governmental organizations and develop distinction-based grants, stipends, and honorariums for participating Arctic youth.

To ensure Arctic youth safety, incorporate best practices that respect differences between distinct Indigenous Peoples, and to provide culturally sensitive support within institutional Arctic youth advisory bodies, we call on the EU to:

1. Create institutional Safe Spaces for Arctic youth that are inclusive of methods to decompress, mental health supports, and culturally sensitive contacts.
2. Develop policy framework guided by the endorsed United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), specifically Articles 21 (2) and 22 (1), which state that “particular attention shall be paid to the rights and special needs of […] youth.”
3. Ensure that institutional actions are undertaken with Belonging, Accessibility, Justice, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion as guiding principles when developing Arctic youth policy.

Economic incentives for nature protection and conservation

The Arctic faces escalating climate change and human impacts, threatening its ecosystems and communities. A shift away from resource extraction towards a knowledge-based economy is crucial. This requires developing sustainable energy solutions, fostering Indigenous-led innovation in the green transition, and creating diverse economic opportunities. The challenge lies in establishing financial mechanisms that balance economic growth with environmental protection, ensuring a sustainable future for the Arctic. We call on the EU and the Arctic Council
to:

Prioritize Arctic-led initiatives in nature technology, focusing on:

1. Collaborative development of sustainable energy infrastructure.
2. Climate and nature-based innovation that merges traditional knowledge with technological solutions.
3. Incentivizing businesses to establish environmentally friendly Arctic technology testing hubs that foster expertise and economic growth. The scope of such hubs should be controlled by local Indigenous Peoples.

This can be achieved by creating an Arctic Council working group specifically focused on nature tech, tasked with coordinating research, development, and deployment of nature-based solutions in the Arctic. An Arctic-specific framework for intellectual property rights that recognizes and protects Indigenous knowledge related to nature tech should be developed.

Increase financial support for protecting and conserving Arctic nature by:

1. Establishing a dedicated Arctic fund within the EU to support nature conservation, sustainable development, and Indigenous-led initiatives.
2. Simplifying access to funding and grants for community and Indigenous-led initiatives and businesses focusing on nature, climate, and Indigenous culture.
3. Funding the participation of Indigenous experts in shaping and implementing policy, thereby ensuring holistic nature preservation.
4. Strengthening international cooperation on carbon markets to ensure that Arctic nature-based solutions are properly valued and compensated.

Negotiate a new legally binding Arctic environmental protection agreement that includes robust provisions on liability, compensation, and dispute resolution, including during times of crises. Establish an independent Arctic environmental court or tribunal to adjudicate disputes related to environmental damage.

Management of Arctic Oceans

The EU should actively create spaces for Indigenous Peoples and youth in the development of coastal policy that supports community-based management that prioritizes subsistence users of the Arctic Ocean. This can be achieved by:

1. Financially supporting knowledge contributors and funding Indigenous-led projects and local initiatives.
2. Creating opportunities for coastal youth in ocean governance.
3. Financially supporting Indigenous-based and Indigenous-led education in the Arctic.

To promote biodiversity protection and the preservation of Arctic marine ecosystems, we call on the EU to:

1. Invest in the development of less disruptive and more sustainable shipping technology through subsidies and grants.
2. Advocate for the analysis and update of the Polar Code and MARPOL to demand and advance strict regulations for absolute zero GHG emissions technologies in vessel energy systems.
3. Advocate for the establishment of zero-emission zones in the valuable and vulnerable areas of the central Arctic Ocean.

To address the concern of underregulated development of non-living seabed natural resources at the expense of biodiversity and the marine environment, we call on the EU to:

1. Advocate for, and promote, consensus-driven solutions to jurisdictional issues on the extended continental shelf in the Arctic.
2. Apply a precautionary principle as to neither support nor benefit from such extraction until effective environmental protection is established.
3. Pursue a consensus-based definition of the Arctic Ocean so the area where policies are applied is clearly delineated.

Climate adaptation in the Arctic

The climate and biodiversity crises threaten Arctic communities and their way of life. The EU should work to foster climate adaptation, focusing on food security and community education and involvement.

To increase food security in the face of the climate crisis, we call on the EU to:

1. Set requirements for national and regional authorities to ensure that food security is considered in hunting and fishing quotas and definitions. Requirements should be updated annually with Indigenous Peoples to adapt to climate change.
2. Work towards Indigenous and local community ownership over these regulations and related governance structures.

To broaden the knowledge base of climate adaptation best practices, to highlight precedent for policy led by Indigenous Peoples, and to reinforce the application of Indigenous science, we call on the EU to:

1. Support the development of a database that is Indigenous owned and led of Indigenous science-driven climate adaptation best practices.

To support the needs of Arctic communities in adapting to the effects of the climate crisis, we
call on the EU to:

1. Set up a climate adaptation fund for local infrastructure (e.g. housing, energy, transport) that is Indigenous-led. Funds should be allocated to local Indigenous groups and a facilitator employed through the scheme should support the implementation and execution of the funds.
2. Fund administrative capacity and preliminary project development in Arctic communities.

The Arctic Youth Dialogue is part of the Youth Together for Arctic Futures project, which is funded by the European Union.

This content is the sole responsibility of the WWF Global Arctic Programme and partners and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.