Arctic Council recognized by Baltic Sea navies 7 March 2014Arctic Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeEmergency Prevention, Preparedness and ResponseProtection of the Arctic Marine Environment 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, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Sea Surveillance Co-operation Baltic Sea is “dedicated to improving maritime awareness, safety and security through international cooperation.” This year’s award ceremony took place in Tallinn, Estonia on 6 March 2014, and a representative of the Canadian Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania represented the Arctic Council and received the SUCBAS recognition on behalf of the Canadian Chairmanship. The Arctic Council’s work includes many significant projects and reports that address, or that have addressed, maritime activity and safety. Some recently-released reports that address this topic include:: Recommended Practices for Arctic Oil Spill Prevention (2013), from Working Group EPPR Arctic Ocean Review (2013), from Working Group PAME Identification of Arctic marine areas of heightened ecological and cultural significance (2013), from Working Group AMAP In addition, the first international binding agreement negotiated under the auspices of the Arctic Council was the Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic, signed at the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Nuuk, Greenland in 2011. That agreement was followed in 2013 by the Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic, signed at the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Kiruna, Sweden in 2013.