September 20, 2022
Empowering Arctic Indigenous Peoples:
Our Role in Addressing Climate Change
An Institute of Arctic Studies Lecture & Webinar
Embedded Files
Empowering Arctic Indigenous Peoples:
Overview
Overview
Dr. Dorough will discuss the global leadership roles, perspectives, and knowledge that Inuit and other Arctic Indigenous Peoples bring to climate change solutions and decision-making within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Climate Agreement, and the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Dr. Dorough will also discuss the importance of Indigenous-led climate solutions in the future of Arctic research and planning.
Dr. Dalee Sambo Dorough (Iñupiat)
Dr. Dalee Sambo Dorough (Iñupiat)
Dr. Dalee Sambo Dorough (Iñupiat) is an Arctic Indigenous leader, legal scholar, and global advocate for the leadership, perspectives, and knowledge that Inuit and other Arctic Indigenous Peoples bring to the development of climate change solutions and decision-making processes within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Climate Agreement, and the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Her work continues to establish the importance of Indigenous-led climate knowledge, solutions, and leadership in the development of Arctic research, education, and policy.
She is the past International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), serving from 2018-2022 and representing approximately 180,000 Inuit from Canada, Greenland, Russia and the United States on the Arctic Council and diverse United Nations fora. Currently a Senior Scholar and Advisor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, she has also served as an expert member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, is former co-Chair of the International Law Association Committee on Implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and was recently appointed to the Expert Panel on the Future of Arctic and Northern Research in Canada.
Dr. Dorough is also co-Chair of the Lancet Commission on Arctic Health and the recipient of the 2022 International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) Medal for outstanding achievements in advocacy for the rights of Indigenous peoples, service to Arctic communities, and influence as a legal scholar.
Selected Quotes
Selected Quotes
“There are so many impacts upon our traditional homelands and our communities, our villages, most of them are coastal villages. Inuit rely upon the marine environment and have done so for centuries. Those of you paying attention to the news know that dramatic weather changes have occurred, and an increase in storm variability and severity of storms. I’m heartbroken and I’m angry about that lack of commitment that government shows, or industries show, in relation to this kind of impact.”
“I want to underscore the fact that all of these issues are interrelated – interrelated, interconnected and indivisible from our point of view. If you alter one element from the ecosystem all other elements are going to be impacted.”
“I should point out that the Inuit Circumpolar is the first Indigenous peoples’ organization to gain Observer status within the intergovernmental panel on climate change to influence the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and to introduce Indigenous knowledge, to introduce our own observations, our own monitoring activities, so that scientists are better informed about what is actually happening in relation to climate change.”
“The point being, in terms of all of this activity, that we hold distinct knowledge, unique knowledge, as well as a holistic understanding of the Arctic, and bringing these perspectives, this different worldview, this different cultural context, as well as our profound relationship to the environment that we’ve adapted to over hundreds of years, is a crucial element of all of this work, and of course it requires recognition that we have a distinct status, a distinct set of rights, that attached to us as Indigenous peoples, the same set of rights that we all enjoy. Self-determination is at the core of it.”
“Being able to safeguard our space, and utilize our voices consistent wit hour right of self-determination, and the maintenance of our distinct status, rights, and role within the UN framework convention on climate change as well as multiple and diverse and other intergovernmental organizations is significant, so in my assessment, we’ve made some headway within this internationally legally binding treaty, but there’s still much to do.”
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