Arctic Human Health
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To broaden the scope and strengthen the integration of human health activities within the Council by developing concrete initiatives to improve the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples and other Arctic residents.
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Item Local 2 Global: Circumpolar Collaboration For Suicide Prevention and Mental Wellness(2025-05-12) Sustainable Development Working GroupMental health, life promotion and suicide prevention are urgent priorities across the circumpolar north, where Arctic communities face a preventable crisis. Youth and Arctic Indigenous Peoples are at heightened risk, while families and communities bear the burden of traumatic loss and grief. Though each community’s experience is unique, structural factors such as colonization, rapid socio-cultural change, historical trauma, and social inequity contribute to this challenge. The many strengths in Arctic communities and Indigenous knowledge are a valuable resource that are not always drawn upon to address these challenges. Stemming from Project CREATeS under the Finnish chairmanship (2017-2019), which built on the Sharing Hope project from the Canadian chairmanship (2013-2015) and the RISING SUN initiative under the U.S. chairmanship (2015-2017), Local 2 Global aimed to facilitate international collaboration and connections between circumpolar communities working to promote life, prevent suicide and support the mental wellbeing of all Arctic youth and communities, including Arctic Indigenous Peoples, where the rate of death by suicide is amongst the highest in the world. The project took a holistic and community-engaged approach founded on the Sustainable Development Working Group guiding principles of collaboration, concrete achievements, and inclusive engagement and activity.Item Project Proposal: Solid Waste Management in Remote Arctic Communities(SDWG, 2020-08-20) SDWGItem Project Proposal: Biosecurity in the Arctic(SDWG, 2021-03-02) SDWGItem SDWG Project Proposal - COVID-19 in the Arctic Assessment Report(SDWG, 2021-11-02) SDWGThis project will result in the development of a report regarding the impacts and lessons learned of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Arctic as well as research that supports pandemic preparedness in the Arctic, as appropriate. It is a continuation of the work led by the SDWG and Arctic Council Secretariat in collaboration with AHHEG and SECEG that was compiled in the COVID-19 in the Arctic: A Briefing Document for Senior Arctic Officials and presented to the SAOs at their meeting on June 25, 2020. The COVID-19 in the Arctic Assessment Report outlined in this proposal will synthesize relevant research into the impacts and lessons learned of COVID-19 and research that supports pandemic preparedness, with the aim of providing policy makers with information and analyses that inform policies aimed at dealing with the ongoing pandemic and future health emergencies.