Envisioning desirable futures for Arctic biodiversity to overcome "doom and gloom"

“Doom and gloom” has become a dominant narrative about the impacts of climate change on the Arctic and its unique cold-adapted biodiversity. However, recent work highlights that such narratives can prevent us from being proactive and taking the steps needed to create the best possible future. Visioning of “desirable” futures can help overcome negative mindsets and inspire transformative action. We co-created visions of desirable futures for Arctic biodiversity during a workshop including representatives from academia, Indigenous Peoples, business and policymaking. Appreciating our diverse perspectives, we identified common themes in our visions: governance, biodiversity-climate interactions, co-management of ecosystems, economy and infrastructure, and food security. Using backcasting, we determined high-level actions that would enable the positive outcomes shared by our visions: boosting education, rethinking Arctic biodiversity governance, elevating voices of Indigenous Peoples and voices of local communities, developing scalable monitoring systems, and evaluating impacts of policies and economic activities. Many of us reported a positive shift in attitude and feeling empowered after the workshop. Co-creating visions with a diverse group was perceived as particularly valuable. We report the workshop method and, building on our experience, encourage people from all backgrounds to envision and co-create the best possible future for Arctic biodiversity.

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Publication Details

Journal
Arctic Science
Published
2026-06-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2025-0103
Primary Topic
Indigenous Studies and Ecology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Envisioning desirable futures for Arctic biodiversity to overcome "doom and gloom"

Fiona Danks, Bjarni K. Kristjánsson, Cornelia Neumann, Anja Helena Liski et al.
Arctic Science
Indigenous Studies and Ecology
article

Envisioning desirable futures for Arctic biodiversity to overcome "doom and gloom"

Fiona Danks, Bjarni K. Kristjánsson, Cornelia Neumann, Anja Helena Liski, Simon Jungblut, Gabriela Schaepman‐Strub, A. Chen, Mads Qvist Frederiksen, Kai Bischof, Isabel Fernandes, Hannah Mevenkamp, Stanislav Ksenofontov, Kevin White, Niina Kuusanniemi-Abbotts, Oliver Prothero, Divina Ryf, Lea Schaad, Karin Nutti Pilflykt, HyeJin Kim, Rauna Kuokkanen, Mariana García Criado, Irina Veronica Wang, David Maximilian Fischer, Malou Platou Johansen, Julia Olsen, Ramona Heim, Jakob Johann J. Assmann, Vitalii Zemlianskii
article en

Abstract

“Doom and gloom” has become a dominant narrative about the impacts of climate change on the Arctic and its unique cold-adapted biodiversity. However, recent work highlights that such narratives can prevent us from being proactive and taking the steps needed to create the best possible future. Visioning of “desirable” futures can help overcome negative mindsets and inspire transformative action. We co-created visions of desirable futures for Arctic biodiversity during a workshop including representatives from academia, Indigenous Peoples, business and policymaking. Appreciating our diverse perspectives, we identified common themes in our visions: governance, biodiversity-climate interactions, co-management of ecosystems, economy and infrastructure, and food security. Using backcasting, we determined high-level actions that would enable the positive outcomes shared by our visions: boosting education, rethinking Arctic biodiversity governance, elevating voices of Indigenous Peoples and voices of local communities, developing scalable monitoring systems, and evaluating impacts of policies and economic activities. Many of us reported a positive shift in attitude and feeling empowered after the workshop. Co-creating visions with a diverse group was perceived as particularly valuable. We report the workshop method and, building on our experience, encourage people from all backgrounds to envision and co-create the best possible future for Arctic biodiversity.

Arctic Science
University of Northern Iowa (US), The Research Council of Norway (NO), University of Alaska Fairbanks (US), University of Bremen (DE), University of Zurich (CH), Hólar University College (IS), University of Victoria (CA), Police Service of Northern Ireland (GB), Nord University (NO), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (GB), Arctic Portal (IS), Institute of Landscape Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Institute of Oncology Research (CH), OLVG (NL), Finland University (FI), Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications (ES), Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (ES), South Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (FI), UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO), University of Gothenburg (SE), University of Alaska Southeast (US), University of Lapland (FI), University of Edinburgh (GB), Aalto University (FI), University of Minho (PT)
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Indigenous Studies and Ecology
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