Shaping Solutions to Climate Change and Food (In)Security by Integrating Peoples and their Environmental Knowledge in the Arctic Regions

Temperature is increasing in the Arctic more than the global rising average (National Geographic, 2018), permafrost is melting across the northern hemisphere, and glaciers are receding and progressively disappearing. Only a cooperative action between public powers and local and indigenous communities can contribute to mitigate the adverse consequences of a disaster in waiting for climate. Focusing on the need of a participatory governance framework, where integration is the key to shape solutions to climate change, is destined to meaningful outcomes, if one considers the intrinsic, as well as instrumental, value of participation. Participation of the interested parties helps to re-establish a sense of ownership to the community and to the environment on the one hand (intrinsic value) and enables local, traditional and indigenous knowledge to enrich the global climate change discourse and to help address environmental issues on the other hand (instrumental value).