The Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA) team members Noor Johnson, Tash Haycock-Chavez, Joshua Brown (virtual attendance), and Matt Druckenmiller attended the Arctic Observing Summit (AOS), a biannual meeting focused on Arctic observing, at the end of March in Edinburgh, Scotland. ELOKA team members co-chaired the Data Sharing Working Group, where they helped organize and facilitate two sessions on Indigenous Data Sovereignty – one focused on capacity sharing across Indigenous organizations and the other on technical capacities such as digital platform development and interoperability.
Along with several partners, ELOKA organized and co-led a session titled, "Supporting coordination and engagement of Indigenous-led and community-based monitoring programs in the Arctic.” ELOKA supported participation of early career and Indigenous partners to attend and contribute to this session, including Alex Ravelo of the Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub (AAOKH), Melissa Van Veen of Tū’desē’cho Wholistic Indigenous Leadership Development (TWILD), and Emma Harrison of Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures. The Indigenous Sentinels Network also supported and co-organized the session. This session provided a space for increased coordination across Indigenous-led and community-based monitoring and observing programs.
