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Partnerships in Policy: What Lessons Can We Learn from IPY SIKU?

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SIKU: Knowing Our Ice

Abstract

The role and participation of indigenous peoples in international arctic policy matters represents a critical element of meeting the future governance challenges in the region. This chapter describes how the nature of partnerships between scientists and northern indigenous peoples can serve as a model for partnerships of a more political nature. Such partnerships, like those developed as part of IPY SIKU, increasingly have a commitment to sharing and reciprocity that is grounded by in-depth documentation of indigenous knowledge, intergenerational engagement, and investments in capacity. Using the Arctic Council and the status of Permanent Participants as a case study, the chapter examines the current challenges and opportunities in translating these kinds of partnerships into an international policy context. It argues that opportunities for political partnerships between indigenous peoples and nation-states do have the potential to grow if these core tenants are supported.

As states increasingly focus on the Arctic and its resources, and as climate change continues to create easier access to the Arctic, Inuit inclusion as active partners is central to all national and international deliberations on Arctic sovereignty and related questions, such as who owns the Arctic, who has the right to traverse the Arctic, who has the right to develop the Arctic, and who will be responsible for the social and environmental impacts increasingly facing the Arctic. We have unique knowledge and experience to bring to these deliberations. The inclusion of Inuit as active partners in all future deliberations on Arctic sovereignty will benefit both the Inuit community and the international community.

Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic 2009

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Acknowledgments

The research conducted as part of the Sikusiilarmiut Place-Name Project was supported through grants made by the National Science Foundation; the Nunavut Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth; and the Geological Survey of Canada. I would like to thank the Community of Cape Dorset for their support of the Sikusiilarmiut Place-name Project and I would like particularly acknowledge the hard work of my colleague, interpreter, and friend Aksatungua Ashoona. I would particularly like to thank Victoria Gofman (AIA) and Jimmy Stotts (ICC) for sharing their insights into the role of Permanent Participants on the Arctic Council and for providing helpful comments on this chapter. Igor Krupnik, Oran Young, and Shari Gearheard also kindly read and provided feedback on drafts of this chapter; I particularly want to thank Igor, without his encouragement this manuscript would not have been written.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oak Foundation USA, Portland, ME, 04101, USA

    Anne Henshaw

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  1. Anne Henshaw
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Correspondence to Anne Henshaw .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Museum of Natural History, Dept. Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, 10th and Constitution Ave. NW.,, Washington, 20013-7012, District of Columbia, USA

    Igor Krupnik

  2. Dept. Sociology & Anthropology, Carleton University, Colonel By Dr. 1125, Ottawa, K1S 5B6, Ontario, Canada

    Claudio Aporta

  3. National Snow & Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Clyde River, Nunavut, Canada

    Shari Gearheard

  4. Dept. Geography &, Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Colonel By Drive 1125, Ottawa, K1S 5B6, Ontario, Canada

    Gita J. Laidler

  5. Inuit Circumpolar Council, Greenland, Dr. Ingridsvej 1, Nuuk, 3900, Greenland

    Lene Kielsen Holm

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Henshaw, A. (2010). Partnerships in Policy: What Lessons Can We Learn from IPY SIKU?. In: Krupnik, I., Aporta, C., Gearheard, S., Laidler, G., Kielsen Holm, L. (eds) SIKU: Knowing Our Ice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8587-0_19

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