Participatory engagement and the empowerment of the Arctic Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the participatory mechanisms in environmental decision making with a focus on indigenous peoples (IP)’s engagement in the Arctic Council (AC)’s decisions.

The first part offers a comprehensive perspective of the IP self-determination requirement as both the means and the end of their full participation to environmental decisions: self-determination is both the grounding factor for IP participation and the driving force to the empowerment, self-sufficiency and autonomy of the participants themselves. The second part briefly sketches the role of the Arctic Council as the active arena for the development of international initiatives primarily focusing on the protection of the Arctic environment, as well as looking at it as the platform where non-state actors (IP in particular) play a major role as permanent participants. The third and final part focuses on the participatory tools enabling a pluralistic engagement of IP in general and of the IP within the Arctic Council in particular.