Understanding, but not always caring, for Arctic biodiversity: personal reflections on the role of science (and scientists) in the Arctic

The goal of biological scientists can be generalised to adhere to one overarching theme – understanding our biological subjects. Oftentimes, the desire to generate such knowledge comes from caring about our subjects, but does our knowledge production in turn contribute to caring for biodiversity? In the midst of a biodiversity crisis, we find we are faced with an uncomfortable situation where our personal values (caring) and our scientific goals (understanding) often do not align. Perhaps nowhere is this so apparent as it is in the Arctic, the most rapidly warming region of the world, to which scientists travel thousands of kilometres, frequently by plane, to study the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, creating a kind of cognitive dissonance about our role in the process. Certainly, this has been my experience as a plant ecologist new to Arctic research and it has raised a key question for me: does the knowledge we are generating justify the impacts we are having in these threatened places?
The ‘publish or perish’ mindset of modern science fuels an extractivist culture within research, particularly in Arctic locales, where scientists fly in, extract knowledge, and fly out again. With intense pressure to push our work forward into the academic arena, it leaves little time and energy to consider the disconnect between the processes through which we understand and through which we care for the Arctic. This can lead to disempowerment of local communities, a distrust for science and scientists, and a lack of knowledge co-creation with those who live in this rapidly changing area of the world. I suggest that in order to care for biodiversity through our knowledge generation, we need to prioritise reciprocity – taking and giving back. In this presentation, I reflect on my personal experiences as an Arctic ecologist to highlight and discuss how we got to this point and how, through first acknowledging the dualities in our work, we can move one step closer to truly caring for Arctic communities and the biodiversity they support.