Who shapes the Arctic’s future? A gathering in Bodø offered many options

Last week, around 300 attendees from more than 30 countries gathered in Bodø, Norway, for the 10th edition of the High North Dialogue. While the agenda focused on recurring Arctic themes such as governance, business, resilience and people, the atmosphere and exchanges made the event one of a kind.

Here is a small selection of moments and conversations to give you a taste of the action.

It all started with a cold beer

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide kicked things off by talking about geopolitics with beer barrels as a backdrop. This was, after all, the brewinar, a format far more engaging than a typical webinar.

The next morning, in a more conventional setting, Eide was back on stage for a governance panel, holding firm to the mantra: “High North, low tension”.

Canada in focus

Canada featured prominently throughout the event, with strong political and academic representation.

Also on the governance panel was Amy Baker, Canada’s ambassador to Norway, who offered a practical definition of diplomacy. “Prime ministers sign an agreement, but what’s key is how companies and organizations work with one another,” she said. “Diplomats are here to ensure the right conversations happen and identify barriers if any.”

Since Mark Carney’s now-famous Davos speech earlier this year, all eyes have been on Canada. In March, he announced a $35 billion investment plan to defend, connect and transform Canada’s Northern regions.

Frédéric Lasserre, Research Chair in Indo-Pacific Studies at Laval University, presented the Arctic Security Corridor in Bodø. This includes a plan to build  Grays Bay Road, a 230 km all-season gravel highway with dual-use purposes: mining and security. The catch: no communities live along this route, making the investment largely disconnected from the people who need it most.

He also noted that the actual military threat in the Canadian Arctic has yet to be demonstrated, which raises questions about what is really driving the agenda — a perspective that added nuance to prevailing narratives around Arctic security.

What is undeniable is that Canada’s Arctic suffers from a severe lack of roads and ports, and there is no  consensus on how to fix the problem. As Lasserre put it, the discussion keeps going round in circles: “The government encourages Inuit people to develop their communities, and the Inuit argue it is impossible without roads or ports.”

Rethinking career paths in the Arctic

Students are at the heart of the event, designed as a platform to bring Arctic stakeholders together and place young people in front of those who shape the region. Andreas Raspotnik, Director of the High North Center at Nord University, raised a practical question during the discussion: what should young people actually study? Answers ranged from democracy to space, taking in Indigenous rights and climate adaptation along the way.

The Arctic offers no shortage of issues to tackle, but translating them into clear career paths is another matter.

Entrepreneurship also featured as one of the possible pathways to enter the workforce. The event featured the High North Entrepreneur competition, where three young founders pitched to a diverse audience, from students to ambassadors. The winner was Justine Vanhalst, who created an Icelandic startup called  Hringvarmi to harness excess heat generated by data centers for local food production. Her prize was NOK 40,000,  a timely cash injection to finalize an initial working version. The company expects to start generating revenue this summer at the Iceland eco-business park. Beyond the money, this recognition comes at a key moment as Hringvarmi looks to raise its profile across the Nordic region and prepare for a fundraising round by the end of the year. 

Resilient by design

Preparedness, safety, resilience: these themes recurred throughout the event, often framed through policies and institutional responses to military issues. But two moments stood out for putting people, rather than systems, at the center , giving another dimension to those words.

Vesa Orassalo, a 25-year-old Skolt Sami from Näätämö (a Finnish village close to the Norwegian border), was asked who he calls in an emergency. “My Dad,” he answered simply. That got a smile from the room, but his reasoning was pragmatic. His family knows the land, so they can reach him faster than any formal rescue operation.

Orassalo also acknowledged Norway’s responsiveness, with helicopters available when hospital care is needed across the border. His perspective highlighted a simple idea: resilience is also about having options, including when it comes to jobs. He is training to become a teacher, with the intention of returning home to fill that role locally. He will continue to hunt and fish — salmon quotas permitting.

Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir, head of disaster recovery and education, Civil Protection Iceland, also stressed the importance of individual responsibility. “Everyone should ask themselves how they can strengthen their own resilience — as a family member, an employee, an employer.”

The discussions highlighted the Arctic’s many challenges. 

While speakers emphasised the need for further collaboration among Arctic countries, Raspotnik reminded the audience that these discussions also need to travel South, to the capitals where decisions are ultimately made, in places like Oslo and Ottawa.

What particularly stood out throughout the event is how young people’s perspectives were blended with those of high-level decision-makers.”Ten years ago, we only had the best of intentions,” said Jennifer Spence, Director of the Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School, “Now, the youth is at the table.”