The Arctic Council

503 Pages·2016·9.85 MB·English

ARCTIC
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YEARBOOK
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The Arctic Council:
20 Years of Regional Cooperation
and Policy-Shaping
Lassi Heininen
Heather Exner-Pirot
Joël Plouffe
i
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Arctic Yearbook 2016

Heininen, L., H. Exner-Pirot, & J. Plouffe. (Eds.). (2016). Arctic Yearbook 2016. Akureyri, Iceland:
Northern Research Forum. Available from http://www.arcticyearbook.com.

ISSN 2298–2418

This is an open access volume distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution
Non Commercial (CC BY NC-4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build
upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided
the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial.

Cover Image Credit:
Harald Finkler. Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting, Barrow, Alaska (12 October, 2000).

Editor

Lassi Heininen, University of Lapland | [email protected]

Managing Editors

Heather Exner-Pirot, University of Saskatchewan | [email protected]
Joël Plouffe, École nationale d’Administration publique (Montréal) | [email protected]

Editorial Board
Chair
Dr. Lawson Brigham (Distinguished Professor of Geography & Arctic Policy, University of
Alaska Fairbanks; Senior Fellow, Institute of the North, United States of America)
Members
Dr. Gail Fondahl (Professor of Geography, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada)
Dr. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (President of the Republic of Iceland)
Ambassador Hannu Halinen (former SAO, Finland; Special Advisor to the IIASA Director
General and Chief Executive Officer Exploratory and Special Projects)
Dr. Steven E. Miller (Director of the International Security Program; Editor-in-Chief of
International Security, Harvard University, United States)
Dr. Alexander Pelyasov (Russian Academy of Sciences; Director of the Center of Northern and
Arctic Economics; Ministry of Economic Development & Trade, Russian Federation)

About Arctic Yearbook

The Arctic Yearbook is the outcome of the Northern Research Forum (NRF) and UArctic joint
Thematic Network (TN) on Geopolitics and Security. The TN also organizes the annual Calotte
Academy.
3 Arctic Yearbook 2016
The Arctic Yearbook seeks to be the preeminent repository of critical analysis on the Arctic region,
with a mandate to inform observers about the state of Arctic politics, governance and security. It
is an international and interdisciplinary peer-reviewed publication, published online at
[www.arcticyearbook.com] to ensure wide distribution and accessibility to a variety of stakeholders
and observers.
Arctic Yearbook material is obtained through a combination of invited contributions and an open
call for papers. For more information on contributing to the Arctic Yearbook, or participating in
the TN on Geopolitics and Security, contact the Editor, Lassi Heininen.

Acknowledgments
The Arctic Yearbook would like to acknowledge the Arctic Portal [http://arcticportal.org] for
their generous technical and design support, as well as the scholars who provided peer review of
the academic articles. We would also like to thank Global Affairs Canada – Circumpolar Affairs
for their support of the launch event; and the University of the Arctic, with dedicated funding from
the Government of Norway, for financial support of its planning and printing.

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The Arctic Council: 20 Years of Regional Cooperation
and Policy-Shaping

Table of Contents

Section I: Introduction 12
Introduction – The Arctic Council: Twenty Years of Policy Shaping 14
Lawson Brigham, Heather Exner-Pirot, Lassi Heininen & Joël Plouffe
Year in Review: Timeline of 2016 Events 22
Heather Exner-Pirot & Joël Plouffe
Commentary – The Arctic Council in Perspective: Moving Forward 28
Hannu Halinen
Q & A: The 20th Anniversary of the Ottawa Declaration (interview) 34
With Harald Finkler & Robert Kadas

Section II: The Arctic Council as an Institution 40
Environmental Decision-Making in the Arctic Council: What is the Role of Indigenous Peoples? 42
Michaela Louise Coote
The Strength of Flexibility: The Arctic Council in the Arctic Norm-Setting Process 62
Camille Escudé
Understanding Media Perceptions of the Arctic Council 75
Andrew Chater & Mathieu Landriault
Finding a Place in the Arctic Council for Non-Arctic Actors: A Social Network Analysis of the Arctic
Monitoring and Assessment Programme 90
Jennifer Spence
Shaping Circumpolar Agendas: The Identification and Significance of “Emerging Issues” Addressed in the Arctic
Council 108
Dorothea Wehrmann
Briefing Notes
Arctic Council Upgrade: WWF Arctic Programme Policy Note 122
Marc-André Dubois, Bill Eichbaum, Alexander Shestakov, Martin Sommerkorn & Clive
Tesar
Lessons Learned from Three Recent Chairmanships of the Arctic Council 128
Douglas Nord
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Commentaries
U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council: Mid-Point 137
David Balton
The Establishment and Progress of the Standing Arctic Council Secretariat 141
Magnús Jóhannesson
Arctic Economic Council: Creating Parameters for Sustainable Economic Development in the Arctic 146
Tara Sweeney & Tero Vauraste
Launching the Norwich Model Arctic Council 150
Anthony Speca

Section III: Arctic Science, Diplomacy and Policy 154
Science as Catalyst for Deeper Arctic Cooperation? Science Diplomacy and the Transformation of the Arctic
Council 156
Clemens Binder
Circumpolar Legislation on Pollutants: How Effective is Arctic Governance on Global Environmental Threats?
170
Doris Friedrich
Briefing Notes
The Arctic Council’s Task Force on Arctic Marine Cooperation 186
Peter Oppenheimer & Molly Ma
Arctic Research Across the Baltic States: Re-Integrated in the Northern Europe, Getting Closer to the Arctic
Frostbites 192
Zane Šime
Fulbright Arctic Initiative: An Innovative Model for Policy Relevant Research and Public Outreach 210
Ross Virginia et al.
The Polar Data Catalogue: A Vehicle for Collaboration, Northern Community Partnerships, and Policy-Making
224
Dana L. Church, Julie E. Friddell & Ellsworth F. LeDrew
Calotte Academy 2016: Building Arctic Resilience through Open Communication 240
Gerald Zojer & Laura Olsén
Commentaries
The Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment: Key Arctic Council Framework for Protecting Arctic Communities and
the Marine Environment 245
Lawson W. Brigham
From Inspiration to Action, From Action to Institution: Some Early Interventions of Arctic Collaboration in
Sustainable Development 250
Eeva Furman
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The Arctic Council Produces a New Arctic Science Cooperation Agreement 254
Evan Bloom
Building Partnership for a Sustainable Future 256
Erica M. Dingman

Section IV: Local and Indigenous Issues in Arctic Governance 260
Greenland and the Arctic Council: Sub-national Regions in a Time of Arctic Westphalianisation 262
Inuuteq Holm Olsen & Jessica Shadian
Lessons from Dumpcano: Governance Issues in Solid Waste Management in Nunavut 282
Gloria Song
Barents Region: The Arctic Council as a Stabilizing Magnet 304
Florian Vidal
Briefing Notes
Revisiting the Northern Forum: Lessons from Alaska’s Involvement 314
Emily Tsui
Commentaries
The Arctic Council Permanent Participants: A Giant Step Forward in Capacity and Support 322
Jim Gamble
The Arctic Council: A Tool for Regional Development and Policy-Shaping 324
Vladimir Vasiliev
The Role of Regions and Cities in Arctic Cooperation 328
Esko Lotvonen
Overlooking a Regional Crux of Vulnerability: Missing Women in the Arctic 332
Rachel Kohut & Tahnee Prior
Tour of Canadian North Highlights Richness, Diversity, and Challenges 338
Bruce Heyman

Section V: Arctic Geopolitics & Security 340
Russian Air Patrols in the Arctic: Are Long-Range Bomber Patrols a Challenge to Canadian Security and
Sovereignty? 342
Frédéric Lasserre & Pierre-Louis Têtu
The Arctic as a Geopolitical Bond among the European Union, Norway and Russia 361
Matthaios Melas
“An Arctic Great Power”? Recent Developments in Danish Arctic Policy 383
Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen

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The Political Economy of Russia’s Reimagined Arctic 397
George Soroka
Briefing Notes
The Arctic Five versus the Arctic Council 429
Andreas Kuersten
The EU’s Arctic Future Following the Spring of Statements 438
Adam Stepien & Andreas Raspotnik
Is there Scope for Scotland to develop its own Arctic Policy and What Would it Look Like? 443
Erik Kruse
Stirred Waters Under the Ice Cap: An Analysis on A5’s Stewardship in the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries
Management 453
Leilei Zou
Arctic Council’s Impact on Arctic Shipping 467
Ilker Basaran
Commentaries
Crystal Serenity – A New Chapter in Arctic Shipping or Just “Doing it Right”? 474
David (Duke) Snider
Transdisciplinary Dialogue on Board Between Eurasia and America: The 6th International Meeting of the State-
Members of the Arctic Council, State-Observers to the Arctic Council and Foreign Scientific Community 478
Lassi Heininen
An Arctic Forum for Security Co-operation? 483
Benjamin Schaller

Epilogue 488
Dressing Up: Arctic Council at 20 490
Klaus Dodds
Obituary – A Tribut to Alyson Bailes 494
Lassi Heininen

Table of Contents