Category: International

Online workshop 1: Capacity Sharing for Biodiversity as Community and Regional Development

25/10/2024

Description:
Community development is seen as both a process (developing the ability to act collectively); and an outcome where collective action leads to improvement in a community. Rural northern regions have rich, sensitive, and crucial biodiversity. Its conservation is interlinked with the capacity of the area’s scientists, policymakers, and communities to collaborate towards a common goal. But barriers in collaboration with communities, particularly when it comes to vulnerable and under-represented groups, lead to disempowerment and inefficient conservation practices. In this workshop we discussed the needs and opportunities for community and regional development focusing on capacity sharing for biodiversity. Our guest speakers shared their experiences with community and regional development so that others who are interested in acting locally may have a better understanding of how to do so. All participants who joined us online were invited to breakout rooms to discuss the three questions posed by the workshop. Results from these discussions will be summarized into a document to be published in late January.

Discussion questions:

What are the needs in the Arctic areas regarding using biodiversity conservation actions for community and regional development? What are the barriers?
What opportunities do you see for capacity sharing in the arctic regions towards biodiversity conservation that would address these needs and barriers?
What actions need to be taken right now in order to move forward

Full list of speakers:

CAP-SHARE project leader Ragnhildur Guðmundsdóttir, biologist and museum educator at the Icelandic Museum of Natural History, introduced the context of Arctic biodiversity. She explained how biodiversity in the Arctic has been overlooked because the region does not have many different species compared to what is found in warmer climates; but clarified that the richness of Arctic biodiversity mainly comes from differences found within the same species, which is just as important and should be preserved.

Jessica Aquino, communication manager for CAP-SHARE, Associate Professor at Hólar University, and co-founder of the youth organization and CAP-SHARE associated partner Húnaklúbburinn, introduced some background on community and regional development in an Arctic context, highlighting the importance of community-based action and youth engagement.

Kristín Vala Þrastardóttir, Project Manager of HeimaHöfn at the Nýheimar Knowledge Center, gave an example of community development in southeastern Iceland with Nýheimar, which connects young people directly to resources and people in their communities to encourage connection to place and highlight opportunities near home for careers they are interested in. This connected to the workshop’s theme in opening ideas for how something similar could be created to connect youth with local needs and resources for environmental protection and management.

Eva Björk Káradóttir, Director of the Húsavík Whale Museum, spoke of her experience in how local museums can open local dialogue on conservation, as the whale museum is doing through environmental education, support and organization of local events, and community engagement.

Pigga Keskitalo, Professor of Education at the University of Lapland focusing on Arctic education perspectives, and adjunct Professor of education at the University of Helsinki, leads several research projects at both institutions. Previously she has worked for 20 years in Norway in Sámi teacher education at Sámi University of Applied Sciences. Pigga’s goal is to strengthen the understanding of the different logics that affect education and training. Increasing the understanding between people, meeting others and reviving languages are topical themes that Pigga believes should receive more attention in our diverse world, like the meaning of land-based education and traditional knowledge in education. Her topic was : Introduction to sustaining life in the Sámi perspective.

Rauni Äärelä-Vihriälä, Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lapland. She is working in the Reconceptualizing Boundaries Together Towards Resilient and Just Arctic Future(s) (REBOUND) project, funded by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) under the Research Council of Finland and as a project manager in the CAP-SHARE Interreg NPA project. She has extensive and diverse experience in both classroom teaching, school leading and teacher education. She has been working as a sámi teacher educator in the Sámi Teacher Education Program, Sámi language teacher, and immersion preschool teacher. Her research area focuses are in the indigenous educational field, especially in Sámi education, language revitalization, language nest pedagogy, language immersion, green transition and sustainability in education. She gave a presentation on Justice and Sustainability in the Green Transition: A Sámi Education Perspective.

Hanna Helander, Project Manager in the Pilot project on distance education in the Sámi languages of the municipality of Utsjoki, Finland. Previously, she worked as researcher at the University of Lapland in the ADVOST research project that was funded by the Academy of Finland. She is finalizing her doctoral studies on Sámi storytelling and upbringing at the University of Oulu. Helander has a teacher education degree on the subject of Finnish language as mother tongue and literature. She is a Sámi PhD student living in Inari, Northern Finland. Hanna presented her project for long-distance Sámi language education, and how it relates to community development and biodiversity education.

CAP-SHARE Past Events

Online workshop 1: Capacity Sharing for Biodiversity as Community and Regional Development

CAP-SHARE Kick-Off Online Meeting

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FUNDED BY

Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic (2024-2027)

The Icelandic Climate Fund (2020-2021)

The Nordic Cooperation (2021-2024)