Rapid changes in the Arctic pose many challenges and opportunities to cultural heritage protection in the region. Climate change and increased human activity in the Arctic threatens past, existing and future efforts to preserve cultural heritage. At the same time, increased attention to the Arctic, as well as technological advances, create opportunities for greater access to cultural heritage to a wider public and more sophisticated methods of protection. How can existing institutions promote international co-operation minimize threats and increase co-operation? Please join The Arctic Institute in conversation with experienced practitioners to discuss the current status and future of cultural heritage protection in the Arctic region. Our speakers include:

Dr. Klemetti Näkkäläjärvi works in International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry (ICR) in Norway, Kautokeino as a project leader. He is studying climate adaptation and co-production of knowledge in Saami reindeer herding culture. In 2019 he worked as co-project leader in a research project SAAMI – adaptation of Saami people to the climate change at the University of Oulu. He provides consult, translation and research services in Saami language and culture for authorities and Saami institutions.

Dr. Susan Barr has a BA Honours degree from University College London in Scandinavian Studies and Viking Age archaeology and a PhD from the University of Oslo in Nordic cultural heritage. In March 1979 she was appointed the first full-time cultural heritage officer for the Norwegian Arctic (Svalbard and Jan Mayen) and has since then worked solely with polar heritage and history, moving to the Norwegian Polar Institute, then in Oslo, and finally as Polar Advisor at the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. She left as Director for Polar Matters at the end of 2016 and is now an independent researcher in polar history and cultural heritage.

Robbert Casier is Associate Programme Specialist at UNESCO’s World Heritage Marine Programme (Natural Heritage Unit), based in Paris, France, since 2014. At the World Heritage Centre he works on state of conservation dossiers, the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science, and capacity building initiatives in marine World Heritage sites.

Dr. Christian Koch Madsen is the deputy director of Greenland National Museum & Archives. He is an Arctic and landscape archaeologist whose research focuses on settlement, land- and sea use patterns, and long-term human ecodynamics in Greenland’s later prehistory (Norse and Inuit).

Dr. Frigga Kruse of Kiel University, Germany, is the current Chair of the Polar Archaeology Network. She has a background in geology and archaeology, and she applies her broad knowledge base in the building industry, academia, tourism, and voluntary youth work, whenever the chance arises. She believes that versatility is key and feels comfortable in her role of increasing the visibility of PAN and representing its diverse members at forums such as today's. If you want to talk shop with her, her research has since 2008 been based in Svalbard and Jan Mayen and included mining history, industrial archaeology, archaeozoology, and historical ecology.

Image by: Aleksandr Abrosimov