Envisioning desirable futures for Arctic biodiversity to overcome “doom and gloom”

“Doom and gloom” has become a dominant narrative about the impacts of climate change on the Arctic and its unique cold-adapted biodiversity. However, recent work highlights that such narratives can prevent us from being proactive and take exactly those steps needed to create the best possible future. The visioning of “desirable” futures is increasingly recognised as a tool that can help overcome negative mindsets and inspire transformative action. During the World Biodiversity Forum 2024, we co-created visions of desirable futures for Arctic biodiversity during a workshop with representatives from academia, Indigenous Peoples, business, and policymaking. Here, we will report about the outcomes of the workshop. Appreciating the diversity of our perspectives, we identified five common themes in our visions: governance, biodiversity-climate interactions, co-management of ecosystems, economy and infrastructure, and food security. Using hindcasting, we determined high-level actions that would enable the positive outcomes shared in our visions, these included: boosting education, rethinking Arctic biodiversity governance, elevating the voices of Indigenous Peoples and the voices of local communities, developing scalable monitoring systems, as well as evaluating impacts of policies and economic activities. Many of the participants reported a positive shift in attitude and empowerment after the workshop, showcasing the ability of desirable futures to inspire change. Co-creating visions with a diverse group was perceived as particularly valuable. Building on our experience, we encourage people from all backgrounds to come together, collaborate and co-create the best possible future for biodiversity in the Arctic and beyond.

 

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Inge Thaulow for participating in the workshop as well as the World Biodiversity Forum 2024 for providing a venue and context for the workshop. The workshop was supported by funding from the EU CHARTER project as part of the European Union Horizon 2020 programme (agreement No 869471), the University of Zurich and the Oliver Wyman Social Impact programme.