News Articles

The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Canada’s Minister for the Arctic Council and Chair of the Arctic Council welcomes agreement on the Arctic Economic Council

At the Arctic Council’s upcoming meeting of Senior Arctic Officials (SAOs) in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, delegations from the Arctic Council’s states and Permanent Participant organizations (which represent indigenous peoples of the Arctic) will take a comprehensive look at the ongoing work of the Arctic

At a recent meeting of the Arctic Council’s Task Force on Arctic Marine Oil Pollution Prevention, several of the representatives from the Arctic states and from Permanent Participants offered some thoughts on why oil pollution prevention in the Arctic is important, and why the Arctic Council Task Force is a good way to tackle the challenge.

The Arctic Council Project Support Instrument (PSI), a funding mechanism managed by the Nordic Environmental Finance Corporation (NEFCO), became operational on March 12, 2014.  Almost 16 million Euro have been pledged or contributed to the fund to date, which will be used to support various action-oriented Arctic Council projects focusing on pollution prevention in the Arctic.

At a recent meeting of the Arctic Council’s Task Force on Arctic Marine Oil Pollution Prevention, several of the representatives from the Arctic states and from Permanent Participants offered some thoughts on why oil pollution prevention in the Arctic is important, and why the Arctic Council Task Force is a good way to tackle the challenge.

Situated on the Northern shore of Great Slave Lake, Yellowknife is the capital of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Founded in 1934, the city is located in the traditional territory of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation who founded the nearby community of Dettah in the early 1930s. Contrary to popular belief, Yellowknife’s name does not come from its gold mining origins...

The Arctic Council has been recognized for its “continuous commitment [to] the development and environmental protection of the Arctic” by the Sea Surveillance Co-operation Baltic Sea (SUCBAS), the cooperation of the Baltic Sea navies including Finland, Sweden, The Kingdom of Denmark, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

On February 12, the Arctic Council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group (CAFF) hosted “Our Arctic Birds”, a community event at the Kattitavik Town Hall in Kuujjuaq, Canada. Representatives of CAFF met with Kuujjuaq residents to talk about the Arctic Council and how it is

The Task Force on Arctic Marine Oil Pollution Prevention (TFOPP) was established at the Kiruna Ministerial Meeting in May, 2013 to explore how the Arctic Council can help to advance oil pollution prevention in the Arctic. Although much work has been done in identifying best practices, there is important and challenging work to be done in identifying how, in practical terms, Arctic States can work towards this goal.

At the May 2013 Ministerial meeting in Kiruna, Sweden, the Arctic Council released the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) – a wide-ranging and detailed scientific report summarizing the present status and possible future trends for Arctic flora and fauna. This is the first time such an analysis has been made for the Arctic. The three books arising from the ABA are now available for public

The Arctic Council recognizes the central role of business in the sustainable development of the Arctic. During Canada’s Chairmanship (2013-15), the Arctic states and indigenous permanent participant organizations are facilitating the creation of a circumpolar business forum - the Arctic Economic Council.

In the Arctic Council’s Kiruna Declaration, signed in May 2013, Ministers from the eight Arctic Council states recognized that “reduction of short-lived climate forcers [SLCFs] could slow Arctic and global climate change, and have positive effects on health.” The Arctic Council’s Task Force on Black Carbon & Methane met on 12-13 December in Stockholm to advance work in this area.

The rapidly-changing Arctic presents a challenge to those working on adaptation actions at the local, regional or global level. The inherent uncertainty of long-range climate forecasts makes it important to provide Arctic communities with a broad suite of tools to help them respond to a changing ecological and social environment.

The Arctic Council’s Scientific Cooperation Task Force, established by the Kiruna Declaration of May, 2013, had its first meeting in Stockholm, Sweden on 10-11 December. The workshop was primarily a scoping session, exploring the best path forward for the Task Force.

At the May 2013 Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Kiruna, Sweden, Ministers from the eight Arctic Council states established a “Task Force to facilitate the creation of a circumpolar business forum.” That Task Force met on 4-5 December in 2013 in Helsinki, where it selected a new name – the Arctic Economic Council – and advanced its work on the scope and mandate of the proposed new organization.

November 6th students from the University of Tromsø held a role-play session where they acted out a EPPR Working Group meeting and a Senior Arctic Officials meeting. The role-play was a voluntary activity for the students and their teacher Piotr Graczyk hopes that the exercise will increase student awareness about the work of the Arctic Council.

Though not as extreme as last year, the Arctic continues to show evidence of a shift to a new warmer, greener state in 2013, according to the Arctic Report Card, an annual report that details Arctic change released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The Arctic is changing rapidly. As it does, it may offer more access to new visitors and new residents arriving from the South. That could mean cruise vessels underway off the coast of Greenland, shipping vessels carrying fuel oil along with their cargoes, or invasive species brought northward as uninvited guests aboard ships. The Arctic Council is working to develop a comprehensive picture of such risks to the Arctic marine environment.

The Russian Federation has an estimated 40,000 tonnes of obsolete pesticides, and the Arctic Council Working Group ACAP has been engaged since 2001 on a project to improve management of those stockpiles. At the recent SAO meeting in Whitehorse, Yukon, ACAP’s final report for inventory and storage improvement phases, and the recommendations associated with the report, were approved.

The Arctic Council Senior Arctic Officials held their first meeting under Canada’s Arctic Council chairmanship in Whitehorse, Yukon, on October 21 to 23, 2013.