Arctic Peoples

By Sean Doherty

Research is a useful and powerful tool in understanding how climate change affects the Arctic, but it can easily miss parts of the story. Consulting with people in northern communities, and including their local environmental knowledge helps make the knowledge produced relevant to Arctic peoples, and increases the fullness and accuracy of the research.

The International Polar Year (IPY) that is officially launched this spring will involve many different projects that promise to focus on including stakeholders and their priorities. With this growing interest in stakeholders (residents, groups and local industries who will be affected by environmental changes in a study locale), it is important that terms such as ‘community involvement’ or ‘stakeholder’ do not become buzz-words thrown into research proposals out of convention, to appear relevant, or as a means to get funding. Stakeholder involvement cannot be taken lightly.
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