International Cooperation and Arctic Governance: Regime Effectiveness and Northern Region Building by Olav Schram Stokke & Geir Honneland

Author:Olav Schram Stokke & Geir Honneland [Stokke, Olav Schram & Honneland, Geir]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, International Relations, General, Public Policy, Regional Planning
ISBN: 9780415399340
Google: RmZwAAAAMAAJ
Goodreads: 2890734
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2006-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

Political mobilization

Indigenous peoples’ organizations, research communities and regional-level authorities are arguably those most directly empowered by the environmental collaboration that has been developed under the Arctic Council and the BEAR. Effective involvement of Arctic indigenous peoples is a salient element in the founding documents of Arctic institutions. In the Rovaniemi Declaration, the Arctic states emphasized their ‘responsibility to protect and preserve the Arctic environment… recognizing the special relationship of the indigenous peoples and local populations to the Arctic and their unique contribution to the protection of the Arctic environment’. This was reinforced by the 1996 Ottawa Declaration, which elevated the status of some indigenous organization to that of Permanent Participants. In the BEAR cooperation too, indigenous peoples were represented in the Regional Council, and indigenous organizations have taken part in its working groups, including that on the environment. The impacts of the BEAR and the Arctic Council on indigenous participation in, and influence on, Arctic decision making is discussed in greater depth by Wilson and Øverland in Chapter 3. The extent of actual involvement differs across issues, but it seems that the Arctic Council in particular has provided indigenous organizations with information and networks that have helped to amplify their voice in national and international environmental fora on matters of particular importance to them, especially hazardous substances. Additionally, indigenous organizations have had a say on data collection, parameter choice and research foci, for instance under AMAP and the ACIA.45

Scientists are another category of actors that Arctic institutions have enabled to build denser and more extensive trans-national networks. The International Arctic Science Committee emerged prior to the Arctic Council and the BEAR, but the emphasis of the latter two on environmental monitoring and collaborative research has generated funds that have made possible the development of stable contacts among a great many scientists and research institutions. In part, this has taken place through participation in BEAR or Arctic Council working groups or in the expert groups established to produce specific reports. More than 300 scientists were involved in the preparation of the first AMAP Assessment Report, many of whom also worked together on the second, and similar numbers contributed to the ACIA reports. For those purposes, funds have been allocated by Western states to enable participation by financially troubled research institutions in Russia. The new institutions have also strengthened pre-existing researcher ties. Ever since the creation of BEAR, for instance, Norway’s Institute of Marine Research has been able to use substantial Foreign Ministry funds set aside for Barents cooperation to reinforce collaboration with its counterpart in Murmansk, the Knipovich Polar Marine Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (PINRO). The latter is central to monitoring and assessment of fish stocks and environmental conditions in the Russian part of the Barents Sea. An express motive for that support is to ensure personnel continuity and data quality on the Russian side in areas particularly critical to joint assessment programmes.

The new Arctic institutions have also strengthened networks among environmental civil servants and provided access to

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