How does the Unjárga of your dreams look like? – Space of youth voices

As part of the BIRGEJUPMI project (WP4 “Local and global futures: young people’s visions of sustainable livelihoods and inclusive environmental decision-making”), the reIMAGINE Arctic Research group, together with the Saami Council, is organizing a workshop to understand the ideas that young people living in the Norwegian Arctic have about their future, especially in the face of climate change and climate change mitigation measures. The public workshop is open to young people between 15 to 30 years old who are from or live in the municipality of Unjárga /Nesseby in the Arctic county of Finnmark (Norway), set on the Sámi Indigenous territory of Sápmi.

The region has been targeted by energy projects connected to the energy transition, creating tensions between Sámi reindeer herding and fishing communities, companies, national and European political interests and other local stakeholders who welcome the energy projects. In addition to this, Western Finnmark is the region with the highest youth emigration rate of Norway. In this scenario, municipalities are gathering strengths and ideas on how to incentivate young people to stay and to come back to their home region.

BIRGEJUPMI project is the first EU-funded project where the majority of work-packages are led by Indigenous scholars, practitioners and institutions. The project aims at bringing together Indigenous, local and western knowledge systems in Arctic coastal communities contributing to decolonial approaches to knowledge production. Birgejupmi is a Northern Sámi word that indicates the interconnectedness of lives (human, animal and plants) and the ways to manage/get by – the idea of self-sufficiency. It embodies the principle of taking only what is necessary from nature, ensuring the ability to harvest again in the future. Birgejupmi is also the guiding concept of the workshop, through which visions and desires of young people from Unjárga will be navigated through activities revolving around the questions: what does birgejupmi mean to you? How does a good life look like to you?

Date: February 14th-15th 2026
Venue: Bakeriet Ungdomshus in Vuonnabahta

Organizers: reIMAGINE Arctic Research group ( Research Institute for Sustainability I at GFZ) and Saami Council