Successful SAO Meeting
Climate change and the need for adaptation continue to be main topics for Senior Arctic Officials
Participants in this spring's Senior Arctic Official (SAO) meeting in Svolvaer went home knowing that the Arctic Council's projects are making good progress. Projects relevant to climate change were a main focus of the agenda.
The SWIPA project - Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic- which will assess changes in the arctic cryosphere was approved. SAOs also endorsed work to assess the influence of non-C02 drivers on climate change in the arctic.
Adaptation to global warming is a priority for many arctic residents and the Arctic Council work in this area continued to receive widespread support. The SAO's were presented the conclusions from ECONOR I, the first comprehensive overview of the circumpolar economy and its natural resource base. The ECONOR II project aims to further assess the role of the subsistence economy in the lives of indigenous people of the artic.
Denmark/Greenland announced that it would join the US and Finland as a co-lead for the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment.
Good progress is being made on the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment and on the Best Practices in Ecosystems-based Oceans Management in the Arctic (BePOMAr) project - both priorities for the Norwegian Chairmanship. Advancing Integrated Hazardous Waste Management Strategy (IHWMS) programs in Russia continues to be a key priority.
The SAO Meetings are the highest administrative level in Arctic Council and are held twice a year. The next meeting will be in November.
