Presenting collaborators for Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit 2021

This year the Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit conference will be organized in collaboration with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and the Arctic Society of Finland.

As the planning for this year's event progresses Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit is excited to be working with collaborators from both government, research organisations and civil society. This year the Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit conference will be organized in collaboration with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and the Arctic Society of Finland. With a broad base of collaborators we hope to bring you a conference programme that touches upon a wide variety of subjects.

Furthermore this years event will have significant input from three EU-funded research projects all concerned with current ecological and societal changes in the Arctic. These are ArcticHubs, CHARTER and JustNorth. Through these projects we will dive deeper into the research pertaining to Arctic challenges and changes.

While the COVID19 situation still affects the Conference planning, the aim is to build a dedicated and focused international Arctic event to serve the international Arctic community: a much-needed meeting place and a stepping stone on a way back to normality. The Conference is planned as a hybrid event with most speakers and an allowed number of participants in place in Rovaniemi.

Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit is Finland’s main regular international Arctic conference, organized biannually since 2013.

Read more about our collaborators:

The Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) is a Helsinki-based independent research institute that produces high level research to support political decision-making and public debate both nationally and internationally.

FIIA was established by the Parliament of Finland in its centennial plenum in June 2006 and the Parliament also provides the Institute’s basic funding. From 1961 to 2006, FIIA functioned as an independent research institute run by a private foundation. This year FIIA celebrates its 60th anniversary. For more information visit their website:

FIIA | Finnish Institute of International Affairs

The Arctic Society of Finland, founded in 2012, is an organization dedicated to following the development of the Arctic region and participating in dialogue on Arctic questions. The society organizes seminars, lectures and other events and maintains contacts with international and Finnish organizations, research institutes, universities and other organizations that deal with issues concerning the Arctic regions. For further reading check their website:

Arctic Society of Finland (arcticfinland.fi)

CHARTER or Drivers and Feedbacks of Changes in Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity, grew out of a desire to better understand the processes that have been driving rapid climate and land use changes in the Arctic. CHARTER works mainly in northern Europe and Northwest Russia, looking at how changes in climate and land use affect Arctic biodiversity, as well as snow cover, sea ice and permafrost.

News – CHARTER (charter-arctic.org)

JustNorth is a project designed to explore the multitude of ethical systems that coexist in the Arctic, as a starting point to assess the viability of new economic activities in the region. Through understanding current practices of development in the Arctic through the lens of 18 case studies, JUSTNORTH aims to develop conceptual frameworks, indices and a negotiation tool, for reconciling multiple ethics and value systems.

JUSTNORTH – Justice and Sustainability for the Arctic

The ArcticHubs project is an ambitious, multi-disciplinary international collaboration that aims to develop research-led, practice-based solutions to help address the urgent challenges faced in the Arctic. The project aims to develop a set of tools for decision and policymakers to maximize uptake of knowledge of local situations and tensions, and to provide channels for continuous communication and dialogue with stakeholder groups.

ArcticHubs - ArcticHubs (luke.fi)