Online workshop 4: Policymakers Collaborating with Youth and Communities

Description: In this workshops, policymakers who are actively working with youth groups, elders, and scientists were invited to further the discussion on capacity sharing and biodiversity from local community perspectives, centering around local and traditional knowledge.

Speakers

• Ronja Wedegärtner was the moderator for the panel. She works as a project leader within the WWF Arctic Programme and provides technical knowledge and project management skills. Prior to working at WWF, Ronja worked at Artsdatabanken in Trondheim, mapped invasive species in the Arctic for the Norwegian Polar Institute, and led fieldwork in high-elevation and high-latitude ecosystems. Ronja obtained a PhD in biology with a focus on human impacts at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, where she was also involved in co-developing a course on science policy in the Arctic.
• Líf Magneudóttir is a City councilor for the Left Green Movement at the municipality of Reykjavík. She is chairman of the executive board but has also been chairman for the health- and environment committee in Reykjavík where she led the work on making the Climate Action Plan for Reykjavík 2021 - 2025. Líf has been the leader of the Left Green Movement in Reykjavik City Council since 2018. She has a background in primary school education and worked as a teacher for a number of years.
• Annakaisa Tikkinen works as a senior education policy adviser at the Finnish Education Employers Association. She has an extensive background in youth organisations. She has worked in student organisations advocating for student perspective in legislation. She is a member of the Green Party in Finland, and has recently acted as a member of the party's Education Policy. Annakaisa is a Leading expert on civil society policy and advocacy, SIVISTA (Finnish Education Employers association). She has worked formerly as an Expert at SITRA (The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra) and as an Education Policy Expert at the Finnish Association of High School Student Organization in the field of inclusion, advocacy and legislation.
• Jan Marco Müller: Is currently the Team Leader of Global Approach, Multilateral Dialogue and Science Diplomacy within the Director-General Research and Innovation at the European Commission. Jan Marco has held a number of important science-policy and science-diplomacy positions with notable roles including Science and Technology Advisor to the European External Action Service, establishing the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism, and as Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission. His PhD is with the University of Marburg in Germany.
• Ragnhildur Guðmundsdóttir, doctor of biology and museum educator at the Icelandic Museum of Natural History, is the CAP-SHARE project leader. She is also part of the BIODICE network and focuses on promoting the importance of biodiversity conservation in Iceland and the Arctic. Read more about BIODICE here.

Workshop Agenda

• 10:00–10:05 Opening and introduction to the project - Ragnhildur
• 10:05-10:20 Panelist introductions - Ronja
  
• 10:20-11:00 Panel discussion:  Policymakers Collaborating with Youth and Communities - Líf, Annakaisa, and Jan Marco
  1. Briefly, can you give some examples of working with and supporting youth and communities in policymaking focusing on biodiversity?
  2. Based on the example that you gave, what recommendations do you have for other policymakers wanting to work with youth and communities?
     
  3. From your point of view: What are the barriers to policymakers taking up the knowledge or evidence from scientists with regards to nature conservation?
• 11:00-11:05 Break
• 11:05-11:45 Breakout Room Discussions
• 11:45-12:00 Closing - Each group presents a short summary of their discussion
  

Discussion questions

1. What are the barriers to including youth in decision making? 
   
2. How could co-operation between policymakers, scientists, and youth be made more effective with decision making?
   
3. What needs to happen (what are the next steps) so that we can see change in actions for nature conservation as regional development?    
   
4. How do we establish and maintain good relationships between scientists, youth and policymakers that are based on trust?