An Overview of National and International Environmental Laws pertaining to Arctic States and Their Work with the Arctic Council

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Hayley-Bo Dorrian-Bak
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
International Panel ◽  
Ipcc Report ◽  
Working Groups ◽  
The Arctic Region

The latest International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report published in August 2021 demonstrated that the Arctic region drastically feels the impacts of climate change. Several laws and policies contribute to the governance of the reduction of emissions which impact the Arctic polar region. This work will analyse the inclusion of language relating to the Arctic region in several key Arctic countries’ climate policies and in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted in requirement of being parties to the Paris Agreement. Arctic policies of these same countries will then be analysed to determine the degree to which they stipulate action relating to the Arctic environment. Finally, the several research projects and initiatives conducted by the Arctic Council’s two working groups, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) and the Arctic Contaminants Action Programme (ACAP), will be overviewed to demonstrate their contributions to the best available science and practice in the region. This paper will look into how, and to what extent, the research of the Arctic Council working groups can be considered a mechanism of soft law in Arctic environmental governance. Consideration will also be given to how this relates to soft law governance stemming from the Law of the Sea (LOSC).

Áhrif loftlagsbreytinga á vatnsveitur og vatnsgæði á Íslandi – áhættuþættir og aðgerðir

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 5-19
Author(s):  
María J. Gunnarsdóttir ◽  
Sigurður Magnús Garðarsson ◽  
Hrund Ólöf Andradóttir ◽  
Alfreð Schiöth
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Surveillance Area ◽  
The Arctic Region

Climate change is expected to have impact on water supply and drinking water quality in Iceland. Foremost there are three influential weather-related factors; increase in temperature; rise in sea level; and seasonal and regional change in precipitation in both quantity and intensity. In this study international and local reports and articles were analyzed for expected impact on the water resource with emphasis on the northern and the arctic region. Water quality risk factors were analyzed based on surveillance data of the water supplies from the Local Competent Authorities. Preliminary risk assessment of landslides and flooding was performed in one surveillance area in northern Iceland.

Visualizing climate change in the Arctic and beyond: Participatory media and the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP), and interactive Indigenous Arctic media

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott MacKenzie ◽  
Anna Westerstahl Stenport
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Moving Images ◽  
Big Data Visualization ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Vexing Problem ◽  
The Arctic Region

Impactful communication remains a vexing problem for climate science researchers and public outreach. This article identifies a range of moving images and screen-based media used to visualize climate change, focusing especially on the Arctic region and the efforts of the United Nations. The authors examine the aesthetics of big data visualization of melting sea ice and glaciers made by NASA and similar entities; eye-witness, expert accounts and youth-produced documentaries designed for United Nations delegates to the annual COP events such as the Youth Climate Report; Please Help the World, the dystopian cli-fi narrative produced for the UN’s COP 15; and Isuma TV’s streaming of works by Indigenous practitioners in Nunavut.

Global Co-management and the Emergent Arctic: Opportunities for Engagement and Collaboration between Arctic States, Indigenous Permanent Participants, and Observers on the Arctic Council

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 251-267
Author(s):  
Barry S. Zellen
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Indigenous Participation ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
Successful Collaboration ◽  
The Arctic Region

Successful collaboration between the indigenous peoples and the sovereign states of Arctic North America has helped to stabilise the Arctic region, fostering meaningful indigenous participation in the governance of their homeland, the introduction of new institutions of self-governance at the municipal, tribal and territorial levels, and successful diplomatic collaborations at the international level through the Arctic Council. This stability and the reciprocal and increasingly balanced relationship between sovereign states and indigenous stakeholders has yielded a widely recognised spirit of international collaboration often referred to as Arctic exceptionalism. With competition in the Arctic between states on the rise, the multitude of co-management systems and the multi-level, inter-governmental and inter-organisational relationships they have nurtured across the region will help to neutralise new threats to ‘Arctic Exceptionalism’ posed by intensifying inter-state tensions.

A Rule Follower, a Challenger, or a Learner? Recasting China’s Engagement in the Arctic

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-242
Author(s):  
Yuanyuan Ren ◽  
Dan Liu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Economic Globalization ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Full Account ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Participant Role ◽  
The Arctic Region

In an era of climate change, economic globalization, and technological innovation, the Arctic region has been increasingly open to competing jurisdictional claims, commercial activities, and outside players. In the meantime, China’s engagement in the Arctic has drawn great attention. While some Arctic commentators are concerned about China as a threat to the region, many Chinese officials and scholars tend to portray China as a “rule-follower” in the Arctic. However, this “rule-follower” image fails to take full account of the evolving nature of Arctic governance and Arctic international law. This paper recasts China’s role in the Arctic. It argues that, to fulfill a “constructive participant” role in Arctic development, China can participate as a rule follower, a constructive challenger, and a keen learner concurrently, depending on the different issue-areas involved.

scholarly journals The specificity of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Sofia Khusainova
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
National Interests ◽  
The North ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Arctic Region

The subject of this research is the policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic. The object is Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023. The author meticulously analyzes the positions of the state, taking into account national interests and peculiarities of the current international situation in the region. The article examines the domestic legislative acts adopted for regulation of the Arctic Region, as well as international documents aimed at sustainable development of the North. The conditions of collective security dictate moderate and clearly defined policy in the Arctic, which is the central arena for political action with the leading role of the Russian Federation until 2023. The conclusion is drawn that the Arctic Region is currently the most relevant vector of the policy of northern states. Chairmanship of the Russian Federation imposes enormous responsibility on the country, as despite the overall state of security in the region, there remains a range of unresolved issues. The attempts of institutionalization of the Arctic Council may become an implicit threat for the Russian Federation; this is why the systematization of domestic legislation and foreign policy actions on maintaining the health of ecosystem, cultural heritage, and environmental policy have become the priority vectors in the first year of Russia’s chairmanship. The overall responsibility of the leading actor the Arctic does not exclude the existence of classic threats to the security of state’s sovereignty, which requires accurate planning in subsequent years of the chairmanship.

scholarly journals Accuracy Evaluation and Consistency Analysis of Four Global Land Cover Products in the Arctic Region

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Liang ◽  
Qingsheng Liu ◽  
Gaohuan Liu ◽  
He Li ◽  
Chong Huang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Classification Accuracy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Global Land Cover ◽  
Global Land ◽  
The Arctic Region

Land cover is a fundamental component of crucial importance in the earth sciences. To date, many excellent international teams have created a variety of land cover products covering the entire globe. To provide a reference for researchers studying the Arctic, this paper evaluates four commonly used land cover products. First, we compare and analyze the four land cover products from the perspectives of land cover type, distribution and spatial heterogeneity. Second, we evaluate the accuracy of such products by using two sets of sample points collected from the Arctic region. Finally, we obtain the spatial consistency distribution of the products by means of superposition analysis. The results show the following: (a) among the four land cover products, Climate Change Initiative Land Cover (CCI-LC) has the highest overall accuracy (63.5%) in the Arctic region, GlobeLand30 has an overall accuracy of 62.2% and the overall accuracy of the Global Land Cover by the National Mapping Organization (GLCNMO) is only 48.8%. When applied in the Arctic region, the overall accuracy of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is only 29.5% due to significant variances. Therefore, MODIS and GLCNMO are not recommended in Arctic-related research as their use may lead to major errors. (b) An evaluation of the consistency of the four products indicates that the classification of the large-scale homogeneous regions in the Arctic yields satisfactory results, whereas the classification results in the forest–tundra ecotone are unsatisfactory. The results serve as a reference for future research. (c) Among the four products, GlobeLand30 is the best choice for analyzing finely divided and unevenly distributed surface features such as waters, urban areas and cropland. Climate Change Initiative Land Cover (CCI-LC) has the highest overall accuracy, and its classification accuracy is relatively higher for forests, shrubs, sparse vegetation, snow/ice and water. GlobeLand30 and CCI-LC do not vary much from each other in terms of overall accuracy. They differ the most in the classification accuracy of shrub-covered land; CCI-LC performed better than GlobeLand30 in the classification of shrub-covered land, whereas the latter obtained higher accuracy than that of the former in the classification of urban areas and cropland.

scholarly journals Climate Change and Energy in the Arctic—The Role of the European Union

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 380-402
Author(s):  
Natalie Dobson ◽  
Seline Trevisanut
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
European Union ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Union Policy ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Union Policy ◽  
The Arctic Region

Abstract The effects of global warming in the Arctic region present a particular challenge for the European Union (EU), which seeks to profile itself as a leader in responding to climate change. Although the EU strives to prioritize climate protection, the Arctic region remains one of the EU’s major suppliers of energy, particularly oil and gas. The EU must thus strike a balance between climate change mitigation and adaptation, and energy security. The present article analyses the developments of the EU position in this field, particularly in light of the COP 21 negotiations, and the more recent 2016 Integrated European Union Policy for the Arctic. In doing so it seeks to explore to what extent the EU truly is fulfilling its own leadership aspirations in the field of climate change and energy in the Arctic.

Comparison of the Nordic Chairmanship Programmes and the Outputs of the Arctic Council in 2000–2013

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-186
Author(s):  
Paula Kovari
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Effective Governance ◽  
Foreign Politics ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Take All ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change ◽  
The Arctic Region

The impacts of climate change as well as the increase of economic activities call for effective governance of the Arctic Region. The Arctic Council is the predominant intergovernmental forum in the region. The rotating chairmanships of the Member States have a defining role in the work of the Council. This paper compares the Arctic Council chairmanship programmes of the five Nordic Countries with the organisation’s outputs following the two-year chairmanship periods as expressed in the ministerial Declarations and the SAOs’ reports. The paper finds that the discourse on the studied topics has developed greatly over time and despite the similarities between the countries’ foreign politics in general, there are some notable differences in the way the countries see the future of the Arctic – for example through the region’s vast natural resources or as a unique environment of the Arctic biodiversity. The conclusion of this research is that even though the chair cannot take all the credit for its accomplishments during the chairmanship period in question, nor can it be blamed for all possible failures, the chair’s work does leave its mark on the Arctic Council’s performance.

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