Abstract
The key question in this chapter is how best to utilise the knowledge generated within the framework of the Council. One proposal is to draft a clearer vision for the Council by, for example, creating an Arctic Summit. Regarding structural changes and closer coordination, it is argued in this chapter that the Council should appoint an expert panel to discuss and recommend steps to improve coordination, identify overlaps, and propose, if necessary, a reorganisation of the structure of the WGs. The final proposal is to locate an SAO meeting in a capital city and invite relevant organisations to attend and take part in an Arctic Week. This proposal is closely tied to the idea of a clearer vision, but also to the practical challenge of the growing frequency of travel and capacity constraints in Arctic venues.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The starting point for these recommendations and discussions around them is largely derived from interviews and talks with people with long-term involvement in the Arctic Council and is largely based on the FNI report “Arctic Council: Vision, Structure and Participation” (2016), author Svein Vigeland Rottem. For a list of interviewees see https://www.fni.no/getfile.php/131762-1469869078/Filer/Publikasjoner/FNI-R0416.pdf. Last visited 25 April 2019. Overlapping themes are also dealt with here: Svein Vigeland Rottem, Ida Folkestad Soltvedt and Christian Prip (2018) “Arctic Council in National Administration”. A list of interviewees is also attached. It can of course be noted that for methodological reasons, such disguising of interviewees is not good. My experience of analysing the opportunities and challenges of the Arctic Council is that few people are willing to talk unless they are anonymised. One may then ask why this is. It may seem that internal and external criticism is not always well received in the Arctic Council. It is a challenge in itself.
- 2.
Pekka Haavisto, Review of the Arctic Council Structures (2001). Available from https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/bitstream/handle/11374/449/ACSAO-FI01_6_AC_Structure_final.pdf?sequence=1. Last visited 25 April 2019.
- 3.
ACAP was not formally a working group at the time, but functioned as an independent entity.
- 4.
The Arctic Council (2002), SAO’s Report to Ministers on the Review of the Arctic Council Structure. Available from https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/515. Last visited 25 April 2019.
- 5.
The Arctic Council (2008), Improving Effectiveness and Efficiency of the Arctic Council. Norwegian Chairmanship. Available from https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/1668. Last visited 25 April 2019.
- 6.
The Arctic Council (2015), Joint Memorandum of a multilateral Audit on the Arctic states’ National Authorities’ Work with the Arctic Council. Available from https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/1526. Last visited 25 April 2019.
- 7.
The number of interviewees in the audit’s work is nevertheless limited, and it can therefore be said that these assessments are largely dependent on the perceptions of individuals. In 2016, however, I worked on a report that addressed overlapping topics, and here I also found great variations between the working groups, which strengthens the audit’s assertion about there being different perceptions of what challenges the Arctic Council is facing.
- 8.
For an analysis of the role of the secretariat in relation to the SDWG working group, see Ida Folkestad Soltvedt and Svein Vigeland Rottem (2017) “Challenges of the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group: How to Improve?” FNI Report 2. Available from https://www.fni.no/publications/challenges-of-the-arctic-council-s-sustainable-development-working-group-how-to-improve-article1417-290.html. Last visited 25 April 2019.
- 9.
- 10.
For more about PSI, see https://www.nefco.org/news-media/publications-reports/general/psi-project-flow-attachement-1-psi-guidelines. Last visited 25 April 2019.
- 11.
However, there are examples of attempts that have been made. One is the US review of whether the US has implemented the recommendations of the ministerial meetings in the Arctic Council in the period 1998–2015. Not surprisingly the opinion is that so far this has been successful. The degree of implementation is still difficult to measure and an external review would probably have been preferable. See Arctic Council Ministerial Declaration Recommendations, 1998–2015. United States Implementation. June 2017. Available from https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/2028. Last visited 25 April 2019. An example of external evaluation is WWF’s Arctic Scorecard. This is an attempt to assess whether the Arctic States follow up on their commitments in the North. See http://wwf-ap.org/apps/acscorecard/. Last visited 25 April 2019.
- 12.
Paula Kankaanpää and Oran Young (2012): “The effectiveness of the Arctic Council”. We can also find other examples: Thomas Axworthy, Timo Koivurova and Waliul Hasanat (eds.) (2012) The Arctic Council: Its Place in the Future of Arctic Governance. Collections of papers. Munk-Gordon Arctic Security Program and the University of Lapland and Lassi Heinien, Heather Exner-Pirot and Joël Plouffe (2016) The Arctic Council: 20 Years of Regional Cooperation and Policy-Shaping, Arctic Yearbook.
- 13.
Finland (2013), Finland’s Arctic Strategy.
- 14.
The Arctic parliamentary cooperation consists of parliamentarians from the eight Arctic countries and the European Parliament.
- 15.
In the summer of 2018, Trump and Putin met in Finland, with no Arctic issues at the top of the agenda. The Finns still have ambitions to organise more regular summits around Arctic issues, but how this will be connected to the Arctic Council is unclear. Due to a cooler climate between Russia and the US, such formalised summits may seem somewhat remote, and when the US has a president with a strategy that can sometimes be difficult to decipher, conditions are not quite right. If the Finns nevertheless succeed in arranging such a more formalised event, it is precisely because Finland being “neutral” is in a fairly unique situation. Furthermore, Arctic cooperation is an area with a tradition of low tension, and it is therefore natural to look to the most important Arctic cooperation, namely the Arctic Council.
- 16.
Joint Memorandum of a Multilateral Audit on the Arctic states’ National Authorities’ Work with the Arctic Council. 2015.
- 17.
CAFF, Actions for Arctic Biodiversity 2013–2021. Implementing the recommendations of the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment. Available from https://www.caff.is/actions-for-arctic-biodiversity-2013-2021. Last visited 25 April 2019.
- 18.
Pekka Haavisto, Review of the Arctic Council Structures.
- 19.
It should also be noted that it is a tradition that the leaders of the working groups meet in the capitals or other non-Arctic cities. Meetings related to various projects under the Arctic Council held virtually worldwide.
- 20.
The two most well-known Arctic conferences, “Arctic Frontiers” and “Arctic Circle”, will of course see this as very serious competition, but without dismissing the two mentioned examples, the Arctic Council has a completely different body of experience. It should be exploited better.
- 21.
“Governance” is a frequently used term, although somewhat poorly defined. In general we can say that it applies to all the rules, norms, power relations and so on that govern a given field or social system, for example, the Law of the Sea, the states, the Arctic Council and so on will all be part of what we can call “Arctic governance”.
- 22.
An introductory work here (on the Norwegian national administration) is Svein Vigeland Rottem, Ida Folkestad Soltvedt and Christian Prip (2018) “Arctic Council in national Administration.”
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rottem, S.V. (2020). Challenges and Recommendations. In: The Arctic Council. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9290-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9290-0_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-9289-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-9290-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)