01 May International Conference ‘Protecting the sacred: Recognition of Sacred Sites of Indigenous Peoples for Sustaining Nature and Culture in Northern and Arctic Region’
The international conference that will be held in Rovaniemi and Pyhätunturi, Finland on 11- 13 September 2013 is co-organised by the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland, the Université de Montréal and the University of the Arctic.
About 30 participants from Indigenous Peoples Organisations in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Canada and Alaska have already confirmed their attendance. The organisers are also happy to welcome two key note speakers confirmed: Birgitta Fossum, head of South Sami Museum and Cultural Centre in Snåsa, Norway, and Piers Vitebsky, vice director of research, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.
The conference gathers for the first time in Finland sacred sites custodians, scientists, indigenous people’s organisations, policy makers and other interested individuals, to talk and better recognise, legally protect, conserve and manage Sacred Sites and Sanctuaries of Indigenous Peoples in Northern and Arctic regions. Participants will address issues related to the entire circumpolar area. Besides academic and practitioner discussions, the conference also aims to produce recommendations for policy-making related to Sacred Sites and Sanctuaries in the Arctic as well as start a participatory educational research project to advance the transmission of spiritually relevant culturally embedded knowledge and practices related to sacred sites to younger generations. The aim is to make also a publication on the protection of the SNS in Northern and Arctic regions.