Discover the achievements of the 2014-2020 NPA projects

Seven years of cooperation between people, communities, and organisations across thousands of kilometres made a difference in the Northern Periphery and Arctic regions.

Browse the NPA map of results to discover our stories of cooperation. Pick a dot from the map and scroll down to read  about people who have met similar minded colleagues and together found solutions for their shared challenges.

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Learning by watching, doing & experiencing

Traditional knowledge goes hand-in-hand with science

Scientific tourism is a new kind of tourism combining exceptional travel adventures with scientific knowledge. The goal is to offer more than just a regular holiday, but to also learn by experience, to inspire, and satisfy the curiosity among the travellers. During the Greenland Science week 2021, the project presented the scientific tourism initiative and joined a side event where the possibilities of scientific tourism and narwhale hunting were discussed. Together with the local researchers and biologists, the team discussed the possibility to develop a tourism experience where the narwhale hunters from Scoresbysund (Eastern Greenland) would use their exceptional narwhale locating skills for whale watching and teaching the visitors about the narwhale´s importance for local culture and economy. This experience could serve as a source of income for local communities while whale hunting is restricted by fishing quotas. The SCITOUR model includes also experience-based tourism products that do not exactly fit into scientific tourism category, but still have a very strong cultural connections with local places and communities. In this case, tourism can be seen as a way to preserve cultural practices all across the NPA area.

Photo credit and copyright: Ari Laakso

 

Hans Harmsen

National Heritage Resources Manager, Greenland National Museum

The SCITOUR project and WonderSeekers brand has opened up several new opportunities for travel adventure and experiential learning in Greenland and the Arctic, as well as developing a new type of niche tourism built around knowledge-sharing and cross-cultural exchange. Greenland is well-suited to the scientific tourism concept, with many outdoor activities and excursions that bring the visitors into direct contact with climate change, nature and traditional Greenlandic Inuit culture.