Arctic Council "EMPOWER IAS"

 

In news:

• It is tempting to view the current geopolitics of the Arctic through the lenses of the ‘great power competition’ and inevitable conflict of interests.

 

Arctic Council

• It is an advisory body that promotes cooperation among member nations and indigenous groups as per the Ottawa Declaration of 1996.
• Its focus is on sustainable development and environmental protection of the Arctic.
• The Arctic Council consists of the eight Arctic States: Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States.

History of Arctic Council

• The formation of Arctic Council can be traced in the establishment of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) in 1991 as a framework for intergovernmental cooperation on environmental protection initiatives among the Arctic States including Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and the United States.
• The AEPS tried to consult and engage Arctic indigenous people in recognition of their right over their ancestral homelands.
• Three Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPOs) representing Inuit (Inuit Circumpolar Council, ICC), Saami (Saami Council, SC), and Russian indigenous peoples (Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, RAIPON), respectively, were welcomed as observers in the AEPS.
• As a consequence of a growing recognition of the special relationship of indigenous peoples to the Arctic region, the Arctic countries assigned the special status of Permanent Participants (PPs) to the three IPOs, thereby giving them a privileged status compared to the other AEPS Observers.

 

Formation of the Arctic Council

• The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental body set up in 1996 by the Ottawa declaration to promote cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States together with the indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants.
• The Council has the eight circumpolar countries as member states and is mandated to protect the Arctic environment and promote the economies and social and cultural well-being of the indigenous people whose organizations are permanent participants in the council.
• Arctic Council Secretariat: The standing Arctic Council Secretariat formally became operational in 2013 in Tromsø, Norway.
• It was established to provide administrative capacity, institutional memory, enhanced communication and outreach and general support to the activities of the Arctic Council.
• The Council has members, ad hoc observer countries and "permanent participants"
• Members of the Arctic Council: Ottawa Declaration declares Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the United States of America as a member of the Arctic Council.]
• Denmarks represents Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
• Permanent participants: In 1998, the number of Permanent Participants doubled to make up the present six, as,the Aleut International Association (AIA), and then, in 2000, the Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC) and the Gwich'in Council International (GGI) were appointed Permanent Participants.
• Observer status: It is open to non-Arctic states, along with inter-governmental, inter-parliamentary, global, regional and non-governmental organizations that the Council determines can contribute to its work. It is approved by the Council at the Ministerial Meetings that occur once every two years
  • Arctic Council Observers primarily contribute through their engagement in the Council at the level of Working Groups.
  • Observers have no voting rights in the Council.
  • As of May 2019, thirteen non-Arctic states have Observer status.
    • • Germany, 1998
      • Netherlands, 1998
      • Poland, 1998
      • United Kingdom, 1998
      • France, 2000
      • Spain, 2006
      • China, 2013
      • India, 2013
      • Italy, 2013
      • Japan, 2013
      • South Korea, 2013
      • Singapore, 2013
      • Switzerland, 2017

 

Current geopolitical scenario in the Arctic: US-Russia Spat

• It is mainly viewed as the growing tensions between North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and Russia.
• By the end of the Cold War, the geopolitical tensions and security concerns in the Arctic were almost forgotten.
• The perceived ‘harmony’ was broken in 2007, when the Russian explorers planted their flag on the seabed 4,200m (13,779ft) below the North Pole to articulate Moscow’s claims in the Arctic.
• This move was certainly viewed as provocative by other Arctic State.
• The regional tension increased after the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2014.
• Consequently, relations between the U.S. and Russia reached their lowest point again.

 

China’s vested interests in Arctic

• China, for example, with its self-proclaimed status of a ‘near Arctic state’, has been actively engaged in various projects across the region.
• The importance of the Arctic region for China mostly stems from its energy security issues and the need to diversify shipping lanes.

Why China focuses on Arctic?

• Transport routes from China to Europe through the Arctic are not only much shorter but also free from the challenges associated with the Malacca Strait and South China Sea.
• In the latter case, China will continue facing a backlash from many Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, supported by US forces and Quad.

Impact of Climate change on Arctic

• The Arctic is warming nearly twice as fast as the rest of the planet with consecutive record-breaking warm years since 2014.
• The Arctic is likely to begin experiencing ice-free summers within the next decade, with summers likely to be completely free of sea ice by mid-century.