Arctic Governance: Traditional Knowledge of Arctic Indigenous Peoples from an International Policy Perspective

This paper was prepared as a contribution to the Arctic Governance Project(www.arcticgovernance.org). The paper examines the role of tradtional knowledge in existing governance arrangements in the Arctic, including how traditional knowledge is addressed in selected Arctic-relevant international agreements. It discusses how these international agreements relate to regional governance arrangements and claims of sovereignty, co-management, and self-rule. Human rights and existing governance arrangements, negotiated between Arctic indigenous peoples and the states in which they reside, could usefully inform the evolution of international governance arrangements in the region.