To mark the Arctic Council’s 30th anniversary, we conducted a series of interviews with the people who helped build the Arctic Council, shape its work and carry it through some of its most challenging moments.
In this interview, we sat down with Benjamin Strong, Chair of the Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group (EPPR).
Benjamin Strong speaks about the changing risks facing the Arctic, the importance of building trust and the enduring value of Arctic cooperation despite geopolitics elsewhere.
Benjamin Strong: EPPR is important because we're the emergency managers of the Arctic. If we've learned nothing in 30 years, we've learned that the Arctic is becoming increasingly busy and things that we've never imagined are happening in the Arctic.
Traditionally, we’ve focused on search and rescue and oil spill response. But Covid-19 hit and we had to worry about public health. We have to consider migrations from wildfires. Recently, the remnants of a typhoon hit the western shores of Alaska. These are communities that have never had to deal with high winds and flooding that you would usually see in the tropics or Asia.
I'm convinced that the types and complexities of emergencies will only increase. That's why EPPR is important, and that's why it's important that we keep doing our work.
Benjamin Strong: I'm a firm believer that nobody in the Arctic wakes up and says, how can I make it worse? It doesn't matter your politics. It matters why we had to pause, but what's equally important is the emergency management of saving lives, saving the environment and preventing a catastrophe from happening in the Arctic.
Benjamin Strong: Yes, there are divergent priorities, but everybody agrees on reducing risk and saving lives. If a ship sinks in the Arctic, I don't care the politics or the particular national interest. I just care that somebody is there to save me. That transcends all of this. So despite any particular national interest or Permanent Participant interest, we're there to work together.
Benjamin Strong: The Arctic Council remains important because risks are only increasing. Marine traffic is increasing, and more people are going to the Arctic. As the Arctic changes, it affects the rest of the world. Our work is important because, while the Arctic may change and the ice may melt, it's not going away, there's just greater access to it. We have important work to do, and it will continue well into the next 30 years.
Benjamin Strong: It's critical that the Arctic Council focus on emergency prevention, preparedness and response. There's a saying in emergency management – the worst time to be exchanging business cards is right after the disaster has happened. The Arctic Council gives us that opportunity to network and to build trust. And sometimes you have to build trust with people that may not have trusted you for a while. But to have that opportunity to build networks, trust and relationships is key. We've talked for a while about the Arctic Council being a family. That's why it's important. You don't want to be picking up the phone and trying to figure out who's your colleague on the other side of the world when there's oil spilled or when there's a ship sinking. The Arctic Council builds those relationships and builds those bridges.
Benjamin Strong: EPPR is lucky under the Arctic Council because we manage the two legally binding agreements, the search and rescue agreement from 2011 and the oil spill agreement from 2013. It's interesting because the agreements belong to the States, but the implementation responsibility was given to EPPR. So we look at exercises, exchange of information, best practices, areas for improvement, and so on. We're the liaison on behalf of the States. And we continue to cooperate. There is no geopolitical issue there because of the recognition that these agreements are critical for the safety and security of the Arctic to make sure that the people are safe and the environment remains pristine.
Benjamin Strong: Working with the Arctic Council has been the absolute luckiest job of my life. It's amazing work. I don't have one single proudest moment. I would say as Chair of EPPR, I'm working in a very politically charged environment. There's a lot of noise. There's a lot going on in the world. While the work that we do is very, very serious, we're still able to maintain very professional and – I'll go back to the same word – family relationships.
There was an incident of a cruise ship grounding in Greenland. I could pick up the phone call my Danish counterpart and have direct connection to find out – do we need to implement the search and rescue agreement? Do we need to implement the oil spill agreement? When there was an earthquake in the Russian Federation I could contact the Head of Delegation from the Russian Federation. We hope that your citizens are safe. We hope that your responders are safe. If there's anything you need, we'll be there for you.
When the remnants of Typhoon Halong hit western Alaska, Russian colleagues reached out to me and asked, how can we help? How can we learn from this? We can transcend the geopolitics and having that family relationship is probably where I am now as Chair, one of the things that I'm most proud of. Continuing to maintain that professional cooperation.
Benjamin Strong: My hope for the Arctic Council is, first, that it continues on. There’s also a lot of talk about Arctic youth. I hope that we can continue to inspire young people. And I want to encourage people to follow in the footsteps of those of us who blazed a trail in emergency management, learn these skills and go out, and continue to do the job that the Arctic Council started 30 years ago – or in EPPR’s case, 35 years ago.
The work is really hard, and it's never been harder. We've talked about geopolitics. It's a really challenging time. I've never been more inspired by the people that I work with. I've never been more inspired by the commitment at our level – the Working Group level – to ensure that the Arctic is safe. This is a privilege. What a joy. Thank you, Arctic Council.