November 21-22, Arctic Council Sustainable Development Working Group (AC SDWG) held its plenary online meeting to consider project initiatives from Arctic States delegations, Permanent Participants and Observers. World Reindeer Herders (WRH) is an Observer to the Arctic Council.

Anders Oskal, secretary general of the World Reindeer Herders, and prof. Svein Mathiesen, UArctic EALAT Institute under ICR, were presenting World Reindeer Herders. 

Anders Oskal presented final deliverables for the EALLU II - Indigenous Youth, Arctic Change & Food Systems, the project that will be finalized in 2025, which were well received and project updates were approved by SDWG. 

WRH also presented a new project initiative for SDWG - ARISE / Indigenous Youth: Arctic Resilience, Indigenous Sustainability & Empowerment. The project builds upon the SDWG EALLU project, which mobilized Indigenous youth to safeguard traditional indigenous knowledge, particularly within traditional indigenous food systems, as a response to rapid and profound Arctic change. This project seeks to empower Indigenous youth by enhancing their leadership, resilience, and adaptive capacity to respond to Arctic change. Using both Traditional Indigenous Knowledge, scientific approaches and new technology, the project will foster a cross-cultural and multiple knowledge systems exchange of skills and expertise to promote sustainable land use, climate resilience, adaptive capacity, and community leadership.

Current Partners of the project are:

- World Reindeer Herders (WRH)

- International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry (ICR), Norway

- UArctic EALÁT Institute (UEI)

- Arctic Initiative, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School, US

- Arctic and Maritime Program, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, US

- Sáminuorra, Sweden

- NOMAD Indigenous FoodLab, Norway & Denmark

- Biodiversity Informatics Research unit, American Museum of Natural History, US

- NASA, US

- Alumni of youth leadership training programs of SDWG EALLU and UArctic EALÁT Institute

While the project is to be developed into a full scale SDWG proposal, all participating Permanents Participants strongly supported this initiative. 

SDWG - The goal of the Sustainable Development program of the Arctic Council is to propose and adopt steps to be taken by the Arctic States to advance sustainable development in the Arctic. This includes pursuing opportunities to protect and enhance the environment and the economies, culture and health of Indigenous peoples and Arctic communities. 

Arctic Council - The Arctic Council is the leading intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation in the Arctic. Current Chair – Norway.