AbstractThe period from September 1996 to September 1998 represented a transition phase in the process of circumpolar Arctic cooperation on environmental protection, which had begun in 1991 with the establishment of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy and had been broadened with the agreement by the eight Arctic governments to create an Arctic Council. The genesis of the Arctic Council had been protracted due to diverging perspectives on various aspects of its functional scope, organisational structure, and funding and on issues of representation. This article discusses the extent to which the conflicts that had dogged the Council's genesis were resolved during its subsequent ‘post-natal’ period preparing for the Council's first ministerial-level meeting in Iqaluit in September 1998.
State interests and the Arctic environmental protection strategy.
