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The Arctic Council: From Environmental Protection to Geopolitics

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Abstract

This chapter introduces the topic and the structure of the book and outlines to the history of the Arctic Council, starting from a limited effort to promote cooperation on environmental policy to becoming the most important international forum for discussions on a wide range of Arctic issues. It also portrays the political and geographical landscape the Arctic Council operates in.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Rethinking the Top of the World: Arctic Public Opinion Survey, Vol. Published by Munk-Gordon Arctic Security Program, April 2015. Available at http://gordonfoundation.ca/app/uploads/2017/03/APO_Survey_Volume-2_WEB.pdf. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  2. 2.

    Although we find previous books on the Arctic Council (e.g. John English: Ice and Water. Politics, Peoples, and The Arctic Council (Toronto: Allen Lane, 2013) and Douglas Nord: The Arctic Council: Governance Within the Far North) this book is different. In the sense that is focuses more explicit on what the Arctic Council is and what it is not by devoting much space on the work of the working groups and discussing the Council’s actual role in Arctic governance. This book is the result of research undertaken in connection with the POLGOV project (no. 257664), funded by the Research Council of Norway.

  3. 3.

    Mikhail Gorbachev (1987) Speech in Murmansk, 1 October1987. Available at https://www.barentsinfo.fi/docs/Gorbachev_speech.pdf. Last visited 24 April 2019. Gorbachev was critical of Western policy in the region, but it’s the positive message that’s remembered today.

  4. 4.

    Torbjørn Pedersen (2012): “Debates over the Role of the Arctic Council”. Ocean Development & International Law, 43(2), pp. 146–156, p. 147.

  5. 5.

    Geir Hønneland: Kvotekamp og kyststatssolidaritet: Norsk-russisk fiskeriforvaltning gjennom 30 år (Bergen: Fagbokforlaget, 2006).

  6. 6.

    Steinar Andresen, Elin Lerum Boasson and Geir Hønneland (eds): International Environmental Agreements: An Introduction (London/New York: Routledge, 2012).

  7. 7.

    The concept was central to the UN publication Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future (1987). Available at http://www.un-documents.net/wced-ocf.htm. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  8. 8.

    John English: Ice and Water. Politics, Peoples, and The Arctic Council (Toronto: Allen Lane, 2013).

  9. 9.

    For a detailed description of this process and the political and diplomatic play around the establishment of AEPS see ibid.

  10. 10.

    English: Ice and Water. Politics, Peoples, and The Arctic Council, p. 172.

  11. 11.

    In the Ottawa Declaration of 1996 it is clearly stated that the Arctic Council should not address security issues, see https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/85. Last visited 24 April 2019. For a wider discussion of the issue, see Chap. 3.

  12. 12.

    English: Ice and Water. Politics, Peoples, and The Arctic Council.

  13. 13.

    The Arctic Council is a forum without “legal personality” and is thus not an international organisation, strictly speaking. For a more detailed account of this distinction, see Morten Ruud and Geir Ulfstein: Innføring i folkerett (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2002) pp. 81–84 and Evan T. Bloom (1999): “Establishment of the Arctic Council”. The American Journal of International Law, 93 (3), 712–722. Another example of this type of international forum is the OSCE.

  14. 14.

    English: Ice and Water. Politics, Peoples, and The Arctic Council, p. 175.

  15. 15.

    Ibid., pp. 171–180.

  16. 16.

    For a more detailed presentation of the structure and organisation of the Council, see Chap. 2.

  17. 17.

    AMAP (1998), AMAP Assessment Report: Arctic Pollution Issues. Available at https://www.amap.no/documents/doc/amap-assessment-report-arctic-pollution-issues/68. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  18. 18.

    ACIA (2005) Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. Available at https://www.amap.no/arctic-climate-impact-assessment-acia. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  19. 19.

    For a detailed analysis of ACIA’s history and significance, see Timo Koivurova (2008): “Transboundary Environmental Assessment in the Arctic”, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 26 (4), pp. 265–275.

  20. 20.

    Short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs) are gases and particles that contribute to heating and have a lifespan between a few days and up to 15 years.

  21. 21.

    Task Force on Short-Lived Climate Forcers (SLCFs), See https://arctic-council.org/index.php/en/task-forces/76-slcf. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  22. 22.

    For a review of the Arctic Council’s role in this regard, see Sebastian Duyck (2012) “Which Canary in the Coalmine? The Arctic in the International Climate Change Regime” in Timo Koivurova, Gudmundur Alfredsson and W. Hasanat, The Yearbook of Polar Law, Vol. 4. Leiden: Bill Editions: 583–617.

  23. 23.

    A third agreement on research collaboration was signed at the ministerial meeting in Fairbanks in 2017.

  24. 24.

    Svein Vigeland Rottem (2013) “The Arctic Council and the Search and Rescue Agreement: The case of Norway”. Polar Record, 46 (2), pp. 146–156.

  25. 25.

    Ilulissat Declaration (2008). Available at https://cil.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/2008-Ilulissat-Declaration.pdf. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  26. 26.

    For analyses of Russia’s role in the Arctic Council in general and in search and rescue work in particular, see Ingmar Oldberg (2011): “Soft Security in the Arctic”. Occasional UIpapers, Published by Swedish Institute of International Affairs, No. 4; Roald Ramsdal (2012): Russland i Arktisk Råd. Master’s thesis, UiO; Elana Wilson Rowe (2008): “Russian Regional Multilateralism: The Case of the Arctic Council” in Elena Wilson Rowe and Solveig Torjesen (eds) The Multilateral Dimension in Russian Foreign Policy, Abingdon: Routledge: 142–152.

  27. 27.

    Ramsdal (2012): Russland i Arktisk Råd, p. 58.

  28. 28.

    The full name of the agreement is Agreement on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic. Available from https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/531. Last visited 24 April 2019. For a closer analysis of the content of the agreement, see Shih-Ming Kao, Nathaniel S. Pearre and James Firestone (2012) “Adoption of the Arctic Search and Rescue Agreement”: Marine Policy, 36 (3) 832–838, pp. and Rottem (2013) “The Arctic Council and the Search and Rescue Agreement: The case of Norway”. The agreement entered into force on 19 January 2013.

  29. 29.

    AMAP (1998) AMAP Assessment Report: Arctic Pollution Issues. Available from https://www.amap.no/documents/doc/amap-assessment-report-arctic-pollution-issues/68. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  30. 30.

    AMSA (2009) Arctic Maritime Shipping Assessment. Available from https://www.pame.is/index.php/projects/arctic-marine-shipping/amsa. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  31. 31.

    See, for example, PAME (2002) Arctic Council. Arctic Offshore Oil & Gas Guidelines. Available from https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/bitstream/handle/11374/1591/MM03_PAME_Attachment_4.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  32. 32.

    For an analysis of the national implementation of AMSA, see Ida Folkestad Soltvedt (2017): “Soft Law, Solid Implementation? The Influence of Precision, Monitoring and Stakeholder Involvement on Norwegian Implementation of Arctic Council Recommendations”. Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 8, pp. 73–94.

  33. 33.

    USGS 2008 World Petroleum Assessment. Available from https://energy.usgs.gov/OilGas/AssessmentsData/WorldPetroleumAssessment.aspx. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  34. 34.

    AMAP (2007) Arctic Oil and Gas. Available from https://www.amap.no/oil-and-gas-assessment-oga. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  35. 35.

    See Arctic Council, Task Force on Arctic Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response, https://arctic-council.org/index.php/en/task-forces/72-tf-marine-oil-pollution-preparedness-response. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  36. 36.

    The full name of the agreement is “Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic”. Accessible from https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/529. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  37. 37.

    Philip E. Steinberg and Klaus Dodds (2015) “The Arctic Council after Kiruna”. Polar Record, 51(1), pp. 108–110.

  38. 38.

    At the time of writing, the issue is still not clarified. Nor was it possible to achieve consensus at the 2015 ministerial meeting in Canada. States chose rather to postpone the question of observer status for several countries. Not surprisingly, it was an extremely sensitive political issues in light of the crisis in Ukraine, and it strained the relationship between Russia and the other Arctic states as well as the EU. At the 2017 ministerial meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska, the EU was not officially invited to attend either despite the fact that Switzerland, among others, had been awarded observer status. For all practical purposes, however, the EU is considered an observer.

  39. 39.

    For an analysis of this conflict, see Njord Wegge (2013) “Politics between science, law and sentiments: explaining the European Union’s ban on trade in seal products”, Environmental Politics, 22 (2), pp. 255–273.

  40. 40.

    Andrew Chater argues that opposition from Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) forced Canada to block accredited observer status for the EU. See Chater, Andrew (2016): “Explaining Non-State Actors in the Arctic Council”. Strategic Analysis, 40(3), 173–184.

  41. 41.

    See Axworthy, Koivurova and Hasanat The Yearbook of Polar Law; and Lassi Heinien, Heather Exner-Pirot and Joël Plouffe (2016) The Arctic Council: 20 Years of Regional Cooperation and Policy-Shaping, Arctic Yearbook for more contributions to the discussion of the future of the Arctic Council.

  42. 42.

    See the Canadian Chairmanship Program. Available from https://www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/our-work2/8-news-and-events/226-canadian-chairmanship-program-2013-2015. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  43. 43.

    Informal conversation with a representative of the Arctic Council, 14 April 2014.

  44. 44.

    Scott G. Borgerson, ‘Arctic Meltdown’, Foreign Affairs, 87.2 (2008), 63–77.

  45. 45.

    James Graff. ‘Fight for the top of the world’. Time Magazine 19 September 2007. Available from http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1663848,00.html. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  46. 46.

    Several books can stand for this approach to Arctic questions. See, for example, David Fairhall: Cold Front: Conflict Ahead in Arctic Waters (London: I.B. Tauris, 2010); Robert Howard: The Arctic Gold Rush (London: Continuum, 2009); Richard Sale and Eugene Potapov: The Scramble for the Arctic (London: Frances Lincoln Ltd., 2010); Christoph Seidler: Arktisches Monopoly (DeutscheVerlags-Anstalt, 2009). The various contributions are more or less conflict-oriented, but the titles still say something about how the Arctic is portrayed. For an analysis of these discourses see, for example, Øyvind Østerud and Geir Hønneland: “Geopolitics and International Governance in the Arctic”; Svein Vigeland Rottem and Ida Folkestad Soltvedt (eds), Arctic Governance: Law and Politics. Volume 1. (London: I.B. Tauris, 2017).

  47. 47.

    Torbjørn Pedersen: “Utenriksanalyse: Knus mytene om Arktis”. Morgenbladet 24 July 2009.

  48. 48.

    Rolf Tamnes. Quoted in Teknisk Ukeblad in the article, “Det arktiske monopolspillet”. 6 October 2009. Available at https://www.tu.no/artikler/det-arktiske-monopolspillet/256007. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  49. 49.

    Lawson Brigham: “Think again: The Arctic”. Foreign Policy. 6 August 2010.

  50. 50.

    CBS News. “Canada boycotts Arctic Council Moscow meeting over Ukraine”. 16 April 2014. Available at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/canada-boycotts-arctic-council-moscow-meeting-over-ukraine-1.2611964. Last visited 24 April 2019.

  51. 51.

    CBS News. “Russia’s foreign minister passes on Iqaluit Arctic Council meeting” 14 April 2015. Available from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/russia-s-foreign-minister-passes-on-iqaluit-arctic-council-meeting-1.3031430. Last visited 24 April 2019.

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  1. Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Lysaker, Norway

    Svein Vigeland Rottem

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Rottem, S.V. (2020). The Arctic Council: From Environmental Protection to Geopolitics. In: The Arctic Council. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9290-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9290-0_1

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