Our Partners
Our Partners
Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub (AAOKH)
The Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub (AAOKH) weaves connections among Indigenous and scientific information and provides resources for sharing expertise and observations for Alaska sea ice, wildlife, and coastal waters. As a whole, these observations from Indigenous Knowledge holders across northern Alaska coastal communities provide local perspectives of changing coastal conditions—and ultimately impacts—at the community scale. AAOKH’s predecessor program, Seasonal Ice Zone Observing Network (SIZONet), started in 2006 and AAOKH expanded and built on starting in 2015. ELOKA supports the AAOKH database, an online interface for community-contributed observations launched in 2012, with more than 12,000 observations collected from 2006 to the present.
Participating Communities
Gambell, Kaktovik, Kwigillingok, Nome, Kotzebue, Point Hope, Pt. Lay, Savoonga, Shaktoolik, Wainwright, Shishmaref, Toksook Bay, Nelson Island, Unalakleet, Wainwright, Utqiagvik, and Wales
Product
AAOKH Database
Website URL
https://arctic-aok.org
Partnership
Coordination with ELOKA began around 2010
Calista Education and Culture (CEC)
Calista Education and Culture, Inc. (CEC) is a nonprofit serving the people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in southwest Alaska. In 2014, the former Calista Heritage Foundation (est. 1980) merged with the Calista Elders Council (est. 1991) to become the research, scholarship, and assistance organization it is today. Beginning in 2000, with the support of the US National Science Foundation, CEC worked with Indigenous elders to document Yup'ik placenames. CEC's Board of Elders wanted to teach young people the rich history and named places of their homeland, including settlement sites and landscape features. In 2010, CEC partnered with ELOKA, creating a website and online atlas to host, share, and teach about placenames to Yup'ik youth and the public. In 2017, the ELOKA-CEC partnership expanded to include the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD), which adopted the atlas for its Yup'ik language program. ELOKA provides atlas training and support to teachers, interns, and others interested in Yup'ik place names, language, and traditional knowledge.
Region
Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta, Alaska
Product
Yup'ik Atlas
Website URL
http://www.calistaeducation.org
Partnership
since 2010
Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) in Canada
The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) in Canada is a non-profit organization led by a board of directors of elected leaders from the four land-claims settlement regions: Inuvialuit, Nunatsiavut, Nunavik, and Nunavut. ICC Canada and ELOKA have been collaborating on the Atlas of Community-Based Monitoring and Indigenous Knowledge of the Arctic since 2011. The atlas was initiated by the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks, with support from Brown University’s Environmental Change Initiative and collaboration with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's Inuit Qaujisarvingat: Inuit Knowledge Centre. Over the years, several partners have assisted with outreach and identification of programs to join the atlas. ICC Canada and the Northern Connections project supported the latest effort to update the atlas.
Region
Canada
Product
Atlas of Community-based Monitoring and Indigenous Knowledge in a Changing Arctic
Website URL
https://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/icc-canada
Partnership
since 2011
Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC)
The Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC) at Carleton University works with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities across Canada to preserve and enhance Indigenous Knowledge and local observations. GCRC developed the open-source software product, Nunaliit, that ELOKA uses for many of the online atlas products. ELOKA continues to work closely with GCRC to enhance the Nunaliit software platform, interoperability for community-led observing platforms, and to develop tools that support community-led programs with data stewardship.
Region
Global
Product
Nunaliit Software
Website URL
https://gcrc.carleton.ca
Partnership
since 2013
Nunatsiavut Sea Ice Observer Program (NSIOP)
Nunatsiavut Sea Ice Observer Program (NSIOP) is a grant-funded initiative, housed administratively in the Department of Oceanography at Dalhousie University, with affiliate partnerships including Memorial University, the Nunatsiavut Government, and the communities of Nunatsiavut in Canada. Its mission is to preserve observations for future generations, enhance their use for environmental policymakers and researchers, and promote Inuit knowledge systems as central to understanding and responding to climate change. This program is funded by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Indigenous Community-Based Climate Monitoring Program, and grew out of a pilot project that was part of the Ocean Frontier Institutes' Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures project. ELOKA, NSIOP, and Dalhousie University are collaborating on building an interactive database for observations collected by NSIOP observers.
Region
Nunatsiavut, Canada
Product
Nunatsiavut Sea Ice Observer Program Database (not yet released)
Website
https://www.ofi.ca/sustainable-nunatsiavut-futures/about/project
Partnership
since 2023
Piniakkanik Sumiiffinni Nalunaarsuineq (PISUNA)
The PISUNA Program of Greenland optimizes the monitoring of living resources through enhanced cooperation between fishermen/hunters, government managers and scientists, and through increased involvement of local community members in the monitoring. From this, the local natural resource observer program was born. Local observers in Greenland provide their observations of hunting conditions and resources. These observations are displayed in the PISUNA-net product. The PISUNA-net Observation Database is a collaboration between the Greenland Ministry of Fisheries and Hunting, Qeqertalik and Avannaata Municipalities, Greenland Fishers and Hunters Association, ELOKA, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Kalaallit Nunaanni Aalisartut Piniartullu Kattuffiat (KNAPK (translates to Greenland Fishers and Hunters Association)), and the Nordec Agency for Development and Agency (NORDECO). NORDECO is a non-profit charity foundation in Denmark. NORDECO conducts research on collaborative resource management, builds capacity, connects people, and supports interventions on the ground. The foundation is a long-standing member of University of the Arctic.
Region
Greenland
Product
PISUNA-Net
Website URL
https://pisuna.org
Partnership
since 2016
Snowchange Cooperation
Snowchange Cooperative is a network of local and Indigenous cultures around the world with a particular focus on the circumpolar North. Based in Finland, the organization is devoted to protecting Finnish forest and fishing traditions and culture, involving a large ecosystem rewilding programme, but has alliances with Indigenous and land-based cultures across the globe. Snowchange began in early 2001 as a multi-year, education-oriented initiative to document Indigenous observations of climate change in northern regions. Snowchange has collaborated with ELOKA on several projects to present the history, culture, and contemporary environmental situation of the Indigenous Chukchi communities and Evenki reindeer herding communities of Siberia.
Region
Sapmi, Eurasia
Products
Evenki Atlas
Snowchange oral history
Website URL
https://www.snowchange.org
Partnership
since 2009
Tū’desē’cho Wholistic Indigenous Leadership Development (TWILD)
Tu’dese’cho Wholistic Indigenous Leadership Development Society works towards a better future for Tahltan people by focusing on the increased wellbeing of individuals and communities through leadership development, generational mentorship, land-based education and cultural teachings.
TWILD is the first Tahltan non-government organization and it was created to provide Tahltan people with land-based learning for leadership development and cultural programming and to blend educational and career goals with Tahltan culture. In 2021, ELOKA began to work with TWILD to develop Keyeh: Tahltan Cultural Atlas. The atlas will be used to share place names with Tahltan youth alongside historical information and Indigenous and scientific knowledge about the lands and waters of Tahltan territory.
Region
Tahltan Nation, Northern British Columbia, Canada
Product
Tahltan Atlas (not yet released)
Contact
Curtis Rattray
Website URL
https://www.twild.org
Partnership
since 2021
Yukon River Intertribal Watershed Council (YRITWC)
Yukon River Inter-tribal Watershed Council (YRITWC) is an Indigenous grassroots organization, consisting of 70 First Nations and Tribes, dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Yukon River Watershed in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Starting in 2017, ELOKA worked with YRITWC and the Chevak Traditional Council to develop an online atlas to display gathered data and information on water quality and other environmental factors for the Yukon River. From 2023 to 2024, YRITWC and ELOKA supported See Stories to work with students in the Chevak schools to develop short film projects, which were added to the Chevak Atlas.
Region
Yukon River Watershed, Alaska
Product
Nunaput Atlas (previously the SNOWY Atlas)
Contact
Edda Mutter
Website URL
https://www.yritwc.org
Partnership
since 2013
