We share the planet with a multitude of more-than-human neighbours: Birds, rivers, insects, forests, fungi and beyond. In this summit, people come together to listen to their neighbours, to learn from them and advocate for their rights.
The Nordic Summit of Species is a two-day event bringing together civil society organisations that are advocating for the rights and representation of nature. Each with their own approach to lending their voices to more-than-human agents.
Since the organizers wanted to make the summit more accessible to the public, they opened up the keynote speech and added a big event to the programme, which took place in a public space: Parade of the Species. The parade was a success, all participants took part, and they were joined by a local youth nature organisation and several others. The participants were of all ages, ranging from children to participants over 70.
The six civil society organisations behind the summit were Arternes Ambassadører (DK), Arternas ambassad Viskan-Borås (SE), Snæfellsjökul fyrir forseta (IS), Iris Verschuren and Cecilie Sachs Olsen from Department of Art, Design and Drama at Oslo Metropolitan University (NO), Feral Malmö (SE) and Organisms Democracy NGO (DE). In late spring, they teamed up with VIA University College in Aarhus C (DK), which became an official partner and provided the venue for the summit.
The project received funding from Demos, the Nordic Council of Ministers’ grant programme for civil society organizations.