As youth and citizens of the circumpolar world, we share voices, we share concerns, we share hopes and we share challenges. We’re the new generation, the generation of collaboration. We’re standing here today as the Student Ambassadors of the University of the Arctic, uniting different countries, cultures and academic backgrounds in one shared voice.

This morning, Ms Tara Sweeney divided the Arctic in five parts; but instead of dividing, we have summarized one vision in four CHE words; and we will share it with you today. We leave you, leaders, a set of challenges to think and act on, so that our future Arctic belongs to all of us and is full of hope.

CHargE

  • Taking charge in the Arctic means determining our future ourselves by being our own decision-makers.
  • This also means implementing our own solutions in order to create and shape our own futures.
  • The development of the Arctic collaboration enables us to take charge together, creating new strong governance for the real need and problems.
  • The challenge for you here is to give us an opportunity to be part of the decision-making processes, because united, we can make the Arctic a better place to live.

I'm Andrian Vlakhov from Russia.

CHangE

  • Nothing is static. The world is constantly changing. We want an Arctic that embraces the change.
  • We might not be able to stop the climate change, but we want the Arctic to be prepared for the new environment globally and locally. We need to be above the change.
  • The challenge of the Arctic change is to adapt the contemporary lifestyle, which brings a new kind of mobility for education, working, social life and culture. High speed internet starts to be our human right.
  • Open access to the Internet has made the world more interested in the polar regions. Arctic communities need to be open to the new trends when the world is changing. I want to see the Arctic as a trendy brand instead of being defended every time somebody says I am living in a borderland.

I’m Hilkka Kemppi from Finland.

CHancE

  • Chance is about creating opportunities.
  • A new vision for Arctic cooperation should focus on how to create the right knowledge-based opportunities for the people of the Arctic, especially the youth, so that we can live and thrive in our own cities and communities, and still be connected to the rest of the world.
  • We can all agree that the Arctic is about more than natural resources; in the end, it is, and always will be; about the people. Since the people are most important, we need to give people the right foundations and skills to be able to participate in the new knowledge based economy on equal terms across the arctic.
  • We are the generation of sharing and collaboration; We are used to sharing of knowledge, ideas and practices, and we do it for free. In the future student mobility, and close scientific integration in the Arctic is the necessary ingredient for to create a competitive and sustainable Arctic.
  • Our challenge is therefore how you as today’s decision makers can create the right policies, environment and infrastructure that enable us, the youth, to cooperate, collaborate, learn, and share the necessary skills to participate in a global economy; so we will have the chance to make our own choices, and shape our own future.

I’m Merville Destin Mouho from Norway.

CHoicE

  • We should have a choice on how we determine our futures.
  • We should have a choice on what changes we welcome.
  • We should have the chance to become the next generation of choice-making leaders.
  • To sum up, taking charge gives us, the youth, the possibility to shape our own future. Embracing change gives us an opportunity to become an integral part of the new world. Giving us a chance means a new generation of leaders for the Arctic.

I’m Caitlyn Baikie from Canada.

Our collective CHallengE is to make sure that we all make the right choices for the Arctic people, and the Arctic collaboration will enable us all to make such right choices.