Moore and Mettiäinen as invited speakers at Arctic Momentum event in Helsinki, organized by youth NGO Operaatio Arktis

The event was organized by Operaatio Arktis, a Finland based youth NGO that aims to promote public discussion on climate interventions in Finland with the emphasis on fair and inclusive research. Operaatio Arktis consists of 15 young people in their 20’s that are concerned about the climate, including indigenous Sámi youth. Operaatio Arktis are concerned with the rapid changes in the Arctic due to climate change, such as the looming loss of Arctic summer-time sea ice. They see that a new paradigm for tackling climate change requires both mitigation by emission reductions and active interventions, otherwise the Arctic summer sea ice will disappear within a decade.

John Moore introduced the Seabed Anchored Curtain method that the network is studying in Greenland, as well as the preliminary assessment of 61 Arctic intervention methods across 12 categories including reversibility, feasibility, scalability and impact on local Arctic communities.

Ilona Mettiäinen started her presentation by reminding that the Arctic is not an icy desert but a home for 4,5 million people, including several indigenous peoples that are rightsholders of the cryosphere. Hence it is vital to include local and indigenous communities to climate intervention research. How else could researchers know what are the climate impacts that the locals are concerned about, or what kind of other aspects need to be studied and considered in the climate intervention designs so that they would be locally acceptable and sustainable considering both cultural, social, economical and ecological aspects? By listening to indigenous knowledge-holders it is also possible to learn about the Arctic environment even beyond available scientific literature. These views were warmly supported also by the indigenous participants at the event.

Other TN Frozen Arctic Conservation participants included Marianne Hagen, who has recently joined the Greenland ice sheet conservation research team, and Prof. Timo Koivurova from the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland who discussed the governance and legal framework for Arctic interventions. Arctic Momentum was a great event with lots of networking and possibilities for discussions between scientists, youth, indigenous participants, government officials, climate repair companies, and many more. The event was supported by SilverLining.

After the closed meeting, a public event was held at BioRex Lasipalatsi movie theatre in Central Helsinki. The venue was full of audience, particularly young people. They were keen to listen to the scientific presentations and panel discussions and cheered out loud to the talks.

Here you can see the recording from ARCTIC MOMENTUM event at Bio Rex, with an excellent introduction to the New Paradigm by Anni Pokela at 17 minutes and a discussion between Anton Keskinen and John Moore at 48 minutes. 

By: Ilona Mettiäinen and John Moore