International website on Arctic peoples’ languages, culture to be launched in 2022

YAKUTSK, March 17. /TASS/. A multi-cultural website on languages and heritage of the Arctic’s indigenous peoples will be launched in 2022, the project’s leader and head of UNESCO’s Department of Social and Human Adaptation to Changing Climate and Globalization in Arctic Regions (the North-Eastern Federal University) Anatoly Zhozhikov told TASS on Wednesday. The Arctic Council’s working group on sustainable development has supported the program as Russia’s project during its chairing period at that international organization. "The project’s term is to 2024," the scientist said. "We will begin working this year, and the launch is planned for 2022." "The website is aimed at a wide audience - the indigenous groups living in the Arctic, their youth, as well as those who study languages, culture and traditions of the indigenous peoples," the expert said. The work on the website will feature an international team of specialists from Arctic states. They will interview the people living in the Arctic and will collect archived materials on their linguistic, cultural and historic heritage. The Arctic Council was founded in 1996 in compliance with the Ottawa Declaration. It is a high-ranking international forum for cooperation in the region, and specifically in protection of the environment. The Council’s members are Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, the US, Finland and Sweden. In 2021, Russia will succeed Iceland as chair of the Arctic Council for two years. Read more