Indigenous and International Relations in a Warming Arctic
Air and ocean warming are transforming the Arctic. Since Arctic ecological and social systems are coupled, these environmental changes are rapidly translating into social impacts. In a warming Arctic, melting ice is opening new shipping routes, creating new opportunities for natural resource extraction, and accelerating other processes of globalization, all while Arctic ice, oceans, and biodiversity are changing. There is increasing international attention in the Arctic, and pressure on Arctic security and policy making. In this Task Force we look to the current Arctic Council Chairship’s priorities to consider how Indigenous and International leadership can advance action on key issues in the Arctic. From 2025 – 2027, the Kingdom of Denmark has the Chairship of the Arctic Council and it has appointed Vivian Motzfeldt, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Research of Greenland, as the Chair of the Arctic Council. Their five priority topics include: Indigenous Peoples and Communities of the Arctic, Sustainable Economic Development and Energy Transition Solutions, Oceans, Climate change in the Arctic, and Biodiversity.This Task Force will make policy recommendations to the Arctic Council in order to advance any, or all, of these five priority topics in ways that Indigenous rights, self-determination, governance, reconciliation, as well as international policy and environmental change are integrated.
