Arctic Forum Foundation

On September 6-8, 2012, the Fifth Polar Law Symposium convened in Rovaniemi, Finland. It brought together about 75 researchers, politicians and indigenous representatives to discuss the latest developments in the field of Polar law and governance. As an integrated panel of the Symposium, the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) hosted a workshop on how to communicate research to the media and policy-makers. Secretary General of the Arctic Forum Foundation (AFF), Steffen Weber, joined the workshop via Skype. 

The format of the symposium allowed a broad array of relevant topics for the polar regions to be discussed.Russia’s SAO Anton Vasiliev; former Premier of Yukon Territory Tony Penikett; and Donald Rothwell of the Australian National University opened the symposium with their keynote speeches and highlighted several fundamental elements that have shaped and will shape polar governance, such as cooperation,  devolution and  stakeholder integration.

Following the keynote speeches, the symposium split up into different panels to discuss the different facets of polar governance, such as managing the changing Arctic environment and its resources; Prospects for better environmental and safety management in the polar regions; the EU and the Arctic; Managing whales and seals or protecting them? Climate change, security and geopolitics in the polar regions; and Policy actors inside and outside of the Arctic: their perspectives to Arctic development.  

The APECS panel which was held on September 7, 2012, was attended by about 35 listeners, and author Charles Emmerson (Chatham House – “The Future History of the Arctic”), docent Lassi Heininen (University of Lapland), Steffen Weber (Secretary General of the AFF) as well as Hans Corell (former Legal Counsel of the United Nations) along with other policy and research experts shared their views on science communication to policy makers. Weber particularly highlighted the importance of language which significantly differs between policy-makers and researchers. Organizations such as the AFF can therefore serve as ‘translators’ in order to reconcile both ‘languages.”

The last day was held to discuss the role of indigenous peoples in Arctic governance. It was opened by a keynote speech by Irja Seurujärvi-Kari of the University of Helsinki, discussing the process of constructing the identity of the Sámi people in a Nordic and international context. Three panels on Indigenous governance in-between international and national law; Indigenous rights and policy in the Russian North; and Legal rights of the Sami and their influence on others followed this keynote speech.

The Sixth Polar Law Symposium will be held in Akureyri, Iceland, on August 22-24, 2013.

Written by Nikolas Selheim
Junior Research Fellow AFF