The Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) of the Arctic Council recently held their first meeting of 2020 online; orginally scheduled to be held in Akureyri, Iceland just before ASSW2020, it was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SDWG delegates and partners discussed many of the exciting ongoing projects to be undertaken during the current Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council, as well as proposed projects for the upcoming Russian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council.
A few highlights from the meeting include:
- IASC has recently nominated experts to contribute to the Blue Bioeconomy project.
- IASC offered to help the SDWG Secretariat develop documentation for SDWG partners.
- Upcoming projects of interest include ECONOR IV – The Economy of the North 2020, Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic II (SLiCA II), Arctic Demography Index (including Migration), a center for pplied innovations and traditional knowledge of reindeer husbandry, a project on digitizing Indigenous heritage, ATEC: Arctic - Territory Environment and Culture atlases, One Arctic One Health, and more.
More information on SDWG activities will be available soon on the currently-being-refreshed SDWG website: https://www.sdwg.org/
IASC is an Observer to the Arctic Council and as such supports the work of the Arctic nations, Permanent Participants, and the Arctic Council Working Groups. If you are interested in engaging with the work of the Arctic Council through IASC, please get in touch with the IASC Secretariat.