LEO Network

13 December 2017 / Eye on the Arctic
Event

Blog: Can environmental diplomacy save Arctic languages?

Naryan-Mar, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia

Following a 2008 symposium on indigenous arctic languages in Tromsø, Norway, the Indigenous Permanent Participants of the Arctic Council launched the Arctic Languages Vitality initiative under the auspices of the Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group.

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Ecosystem changes can lead Indigenous communities to participate less in traditional subsistence activities and instead turn to putting food on the table through increased participation in wage labor markets dominated by colonial languages. In this picture, a Nenets herder at a reindeer camping ground on the banks of the Barents Sea, north of Naryan-Mar, Russia.
Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters