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Mikhail Pogodaev, Katrín Ríkarðsdóttir and Eiríkur Björn Björgvinsson

Arctic Mayors’ Roundtable

An Arctic Mayors’ Roundtable was held during the Arctic week in Fairbanks on the occasion of the 10 th Arctic Council Ministerial meeting.
The roundtable brought together the Arctic mayors. The municipal representatives gathered at the Roundtable to discuss common challenges and to join hands for cooperation and to share experience in the Arctic settlements’ management.


The Arctic Mayoral Declaration was adopted as a result of the Roundtable.

Our most important mission as mayors is to create good lives and societies for the people living in our municipalities. We also have the great responsibility to take care of our Arctic communities.

As peoples of the Arctic, we face unique challenges including a rapidly transforming economy, a remoteness and isolation that creates an urgent need for cooperation and collaboration between communities, and a climate that is changing at twice the rate of other regions of the world. These circumstances impact our peoples, health, economies, budgets, infrastructure, and our cultures. As mayors, we join together to build on the work of others and to amplify our own efforts to strengthen and create community resilience and make sure our residents are prepared to overcome adversity and take advantage of opportunity.

Local government in the circumpolar region has a special role — to deliver essential public services; convey the priorities of residents at the most fundamental level to regional, national and international decision-makers; and work to ensure sustainable growth, equality, resilience, and future opportunities for our communities a place where todaVs and future generations can live, learn, work and play,

As mayors, we declare our intent to continue to work toward formalizing our communication and collaboration. By signing this declaration, we commit to strengthening the bonds between our people and communities to build a resilient region capable of improving living and economic conditions, ensuring that the benefits that come with the promise of the Arctic accrue to peoples of the Arctic.

As the undersigned mayors, we endorse the following principles and practices:

Our purpose in making this declaration is that we strengthen and maintain open lines of communication between our communities and reinforce the ties between communities.

We, the undersigned Arctic Mayors, commit to working together to develop a thriving economy, and to governing for the benefit and well-being of all Arctic peoples.

See the signed document here