Rovaniemi hosts 4th Arctic Spirit Conference on Nov 12-13

Rovaniemi, in conjunction with the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland is going to host the fourth Arctic Spirit Conference on November 12-13.

Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Krista Mikkonen will inaugurate the conference

“This is the fourth event in the series of Rovaniemi Arctic conferences, organised biannually since 2013. This time we hope to attract more young participants, for example, students and other active young people with strong interest to the Arctic,” Anne Raja-Hanhela, the conference coordinator told the Daily Finland.

The organisers also expect the conference to represent a large number of countries, both Arctic and non-Arctic.

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘climate change and the future generations’.

On the opening day, discussions on the perspectives of the Arctic youth of climate change and the different levels of climate decision-making are scheduled to be held, while the second day’s the programme includes discussions on ‘climate change as a human rights issue’, youth-wellbeing in Arctic towns and cities, and the next steps of Finland and the European Union in implementing their Arctic policies.

Focusing on this year’s theme, Raja-Hanhela said youths from all over the world are demanding decisions and actions on the eve of the UN Climate Action Summit, knowing that there is no planet B for the next generations.

She said, “We want to bring the young generation of the Arctic to the fore and let them share their own experiences on how climate change affects their everyday life and future visions.”

“We don’t just want to repeat that the Arctic is warming faster than any other place, which is true, but we want to focus on the next steps. That is why we approach different levels and perspectives of decision-making and actions, such as indigenous, national, intergovernmental, regional, local, and NGO,” elaborated the event co-ordinator.

The principal organisers of the conference are again the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland and the City of Rovaniemi. This year is a bit special also in a way that during the event, the Arctic Centre will celebrate its 30th anniversary.

The organisers expect a successful event full of interesting speeches, discussions and points of view. It is important and always interesting to bring together researchers, experts, students and decision-makers with different backgrounds, said Raja-Hanhela, adding that “Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit is the only regular international Arctic conference in Finland and we are happy to have the status of an official side-event of Finland’s EU presidency. With all this we aim to prove that Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit has earned its place in the group of international Arctic conferences.”

The Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit conference, organised twice in the past under the banner “In the Spirit of the Rovaniemi Process” and builds on the heritage of the “Rovaniemi Process” which started the cooperation between the Arctic states almost two decade ago.