In This Issue■ Pick OOKPIK

■ Your Creativity

■ An Interview with RuneFjellheim

■ International Polar Year

■ ArcticNet Student Day 2005

Arctic ResourceLinksCircumpolar Young LeadersProgramhttp://www.iisd.org/interns/arctic

OOKPIKhttp://www.ookpik.org

Arctic Youth Networkhttp://www.taiga.net/ayn/home.html

Arctic Athabaskan Councilhttp://www.arcticathabaskancouncil.com/

Inuit Circumpolar Conferencehttp://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/

ArcticNethttp://www.arcticnet-ulaval.ca/

ARCTIC FUTUREThe Circumpolar International Internship Newsletter

Issue 6, March 2006

Site for circumpolar youth relaunched

OOKPIK gives Northern youth an opportunity to share creative works, discuss important issues anddiscover opportunities.

The popular OOKPIK Web site has been relaunched. Hosted bythe International Institute for Sustainable Development, the newsite aims to “share the pride and vision of Northern youth” by pro-moting knowledge and achievements; reinforcing local and regionalpride; and helping Northern youth build leadership capacity.

The redesign, informed by feedback from interns of theCircumpolar Young Leaders Program, gives young Northerners theopportunity to share their own writing, photography and art; dis-seminate their research; and engage in discussions of substantiveissues. We will also support a blog for the Arctic Youth Network,opening up a channel for Arctic youth to comment on AYN workand on issues of importance to them.

OOKPIK is a tremendous resource on youth networks, organiza-tions and programs; Arctic research organizations; Arctic mediaoutlets; education, training and work experience opportunities foryoung Northerners; and Arctic events.

The OOKPIK site can be found at http://www.ookpik.org.

PickOOKPIK

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An Interview with RuneFjellheimFormer Saami Council official shares histhoughts

By Linda Davis

CYLP intern Linda Davis interviewed RuneFjellheim in October 2005. Shortly thereafter, hebecame the Executive Secretary of theIndigenous Peoples’ Secretariat based inCopenhagen, Denmark.

Established in 1956, the Saami Council is a non-governmental organization that promotes Saamirights and interests in the four countries in whichthe Saami live: Finland, Russia, Norway andSweden. As Head of the Arctic and EnvironmentUnit of the Saami Council until late 2005, RuneFjellheim was based in Finland.

Mr. Fjellheim, who studied economics, becamean advisor to the Saami Parliament in Norway in1991. After about seven years, he becameAssistant Director/Head of Planning and

Above: Painting by Pavel Maximenkov from Murmansk, Russia. The draw-ing is described by Pavel as “Lenin – nuclear icebreaker. Murmansk iscalled the “Gate to the Arctic.” From here, the Northern Sea Routebegins. Here is the base of the Arctic icebreaker fleet. Many pages in thehistory of Arctic exploration are connected with Murmansk. It is thehome of many legendary icebreakers. But the most famous is Lenin.”

Right: Painting by Maria Jakovina from Murmansk, Russia. Maria describesher drawing as “Expedition to the North Pole. Every year…lots of shipsgo east. They go through ice fields, through ice many years old. Theycarry food and supplies to Arctic stations, where scientists study life inthe Arctic.”

Your CreativityArctic youth contribute to OOKPIK

Youth from around the Arctic have responded to our call for creative contributions for the OOKPIK Website. Especially impressive was a large stack of paintings we recently received from students in Russia. Hereare a couple of samples:

To see more work, and to learn how to contribute, visit http://www.ookpik.org/creativity/.

Administration for the same organization. In pur-suit of greater challenges, he launched Jaruma, aconsultancy company, with two colleagues.Through this firm, he was appointed Head of theArctic and Environment Unit of the SaamiCouncil in 2002.

At the Saami Council, he followed environmentalissues and devoted time to the Arctic HumanDevelopment Report. He attended the 2002Johannesburg World Summit on SustainableDevelopment (WSSD) and followed up on theArctic Climate Impact Assessment. He also lecturedin schools and did “ad hoc consultancy work.”

Mr. Fjellheim shared this story that illustrates thestruggles and determination of the Saami people:

“In 1993, Rio Tinto (the world’s largest miningcompany) applied for and was successful in receiv-ing permits for search rights in northern Norway.Since this land is Rio Tinto land and Rio Tintohad complied with all of Norway’s regulations, theSaami people did not know what to do. They firstwrote a letter to the company, only to receive aresponse stating that they (Rio Tinto) had all oftheir permits and there was nothing that they(Saami people) could do about it. Well, the SaamiCouncil borrowed shares from another NGOwhich was working hard against this company

and attended the shareholders meeting. Whilethere, they expressed their views and received nosupport.

So, after the meeting, the Saami Council represen-tatives attended the formal dinner andapproached the chairman as well as several boardmembers about their position. The Saami peoplewanted the company to realize that they weremining on Saami land and if they weren’tinvolved, they (Rio Tinto) would have difficultieswhen the project went ahead. Realizing that theirinvestment of 600 million kroners (approximatelyCDN$102 million) may be wasted, four execu-tives of the Rio Tinto board of directors met withthe Saami Parliament in Norway a few weekslater. Rio Tinto had decided to work with theSaami and include them in the process of miningon their land. Rio Tinto firmly stated to the press,‘We will not start until Mr. Magga says yes.’ Mr.Magga was the president of the Saami Parliamentin Norway at the time.”

Mr. Fjellheim hopes that the Saami Council willbe able to work on the project level, improve andextend the project portfolio, and build a strongerbase with other Indigenous organizations on spe-cific Indigenous issues. He hopes that the SaamiCouncil will be able to establish local reportingsystems to which Indigenous peoples can turnwhen they have concerns with companies or gov-ernments.

International Polar Year Expanding the horizons of the CircumpolarYoung Leaders Program

We are working to expand the CircumpolarYoung Leaders Program (CYLP) into a truly cir-cumpolar program that involves young peoplefrom all Arctic Council member countries. Todate, we have had participants from Canada,Finland and Russia. With the International PolarYear (IPY) on the horizon for 2007 and 2008, weare making a special effort this year to find theresources to support two CYLP participants fromeach member country.

The Royal Canadian Geographic Society has sub-mitted a proposal for IPY funding for 2007 and2008 that includes IISD’s proposal for an expanded

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Linda Davis

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program. We are grateful for the Centre forInternational Mobility’s (CIMO) support forFinnish and Russian participants in the past, andwe hope to be able to continue to work withCIMO this year. We will also be reaching out torelevant government departments in the Arcticcountries. We will also be exploring opportunitiesfor private sector sponsorship.

If you have suggestions for foundations or otheragencies who might be interested in supportingan expanded Circumpolar Young LeadersProgram, please let us know at intern-info@iisd.ca.

For more information on the Circumpolar YoungLeaders Program, visit http://www.iisd.org/interns/arctic/.

ArcticNet Student Day 2005More than 120 gather in Banff

On December 13, 2005, as part of its SecondAnnual Scientific Meeting, ArcticNet held its

First ArcticNet Student Day. ArcticNet is aNetwork of Centres of Excellence that bringstogether scientists and managers in the natural,human health and social sciences, and their part-ners from Northern communities, Inuit organiza-tions, federal and provincial agencies, and the pri-vate sector studying the impacts of climatechange in the coastal Canadian Arctic.

The first ArcticNet Student Day, held in Banff,Alberta, attracted nearly 120 students, expertsand researchers and proved to be a real success.Beginning with a drum dancing performance byFred Kataoyak from Holman, NWT, the dayincluded talks by ArcticNet students showcasingArctic research; panel presentations and discus-sions; and the first ArcticNet Student Associationassembly. Presenters from Northern Canadaincluded Catherine Cockney, the Inuit ResearchAdvisor for the Northwest Territories and TracyAnn Evans of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami both ofwhom spoke about how Inuit Research Advisorscan guide the Arctic sciences; and Duane Smith,

ArcticNet Student Day participants: Tracy Ann Evans, Junior Researcher/ArcticNet Coordinator of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (left); Britany Toews, IISD ProjectOfficer for Youth Internships of the Circumpolar Young Leaders Program; and Cathy Cockney, Manager of the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre.

President of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference andmember of ArcticNet’s Board of Directors. The after-noon panel presentation and discussions involved rep-resentatives from programs other than ArcticNet thatlink youth and Arctic research. IISD’s project officerfor youth internships, Britany Toews, was one of themembers of the panel and presented on IISD’sCircumpolar Young Leaders Program.

The first Student Day provided opportunities forexchange and learning, particularly on the topic of howcollaboration and communication are critical inNorthern research. The day also resulted in the forma-tion of an official ArcticNet Student Associationformed of enthusiastic students, post-docs andNortherners. The Second Annual Scientific Meeting,of which Student Day was a part, had over 275 partici-pants. There were more than 40 oral presentations and150 scientific posters from all fields of Arctic researchpresented during the meeting, reflecting the multidisci-plinary nature of ArcticNet research. For additionalinformation on the ASM2005 meeting, please see http://www.arcticnet-ulaval.ca/index.php?fa=News.showNews.en&sub=2&home=821&menu=156

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Arctic Future is published by the International Institute forSustainable Development and funded by Indian andNorthern Affairs. Formally endorsed by the Arctic Council,the Circumpolar Young Leaders Internship Program is fundedby the Aboriginal and Circumpolar Affairs Division ofForeign Affairs Canada, Foreign Affairs Canada through theYouth Employment Strategy, the Walter and Duncan GordonFoundation, and the Centre for International Mobility.

Editor: Britany Toews

Graphic Design: Don Berg

Contributors: Heather Creech, Linda Davis, Maria Jakovina,Pavel Maximenkov, Jason Manaigre, Britany Toews

Manager, Publishing and Communications: Stu Slayen

The views expressed in the Arctic Future Newsletter do notnecessarily reflect those of IISD or its funders.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development con-tributes to sustainable development by advancing policy rec-ommendations on international trade and investment, economicpolicy, climate change, measurement and assessment, and nat-ural resources management. Through the Internet, we reporton international negotiations and share knowledge gainedthrough collaborative projects with global partners, resulting inmore rigorous research, capacity building in developing coun-tries and better dialogue between North and South.

IISD’s vision is better living for all—sustainably; its mis-sion is to champion innovation, enabling societies to livesustainably. IISD is registered as a charitable organizationin Canada and has 501(c)(3) status in the United States.IISD receives core operating support from the Governmentof Canada, provided through the Canadian InternationalDevelopment Agency (CIDA), the International DevelopmentResearch Centre (IDRC) and Environment Canada; and fromthe Province of Manitoba. The Institute receives projectfunding from numerous governments inside and outsideCanada, United Nations agencies, foundations and the pri-vate sector.

E-mail: info@iisd.caWeb site: http://www.iisd.org

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