GOVERING THE ARCTIC
POLITICAL BODIES As climate change opens up the Arctic ocean, there is a rise in global interest because of the undiscovered natural resources (oil and gas)20 situated within the Arctic ocean floor. The increased attention and actors within the Arctic asks for new international governance mechanisms. As a consequence, three central political bodies going from the sub-regional to the pan-arctic formed. These bodies are the Arctic Council, the Arctic Five, and the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), all the actors mentioned above come back in these bodies.XLVIII XLIX Firstly, the Arctic Council is a quasi-international organization that consists of eight members (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, US). It was founded in 1996 as a high-level intergovernmental forum to create agreements on development and environmental protection. The forum combines several actors into one structure. All these actors have a different power influence. The main actors are the eight-member states (Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, the US, Iceland, Finland, Sweden). Then we have the indigenous people’s organizations, which are permanent participants. And lastly, the Council also consists of the observers; these are non-Arctic states that are approved by the member states to observe Council operations.L LI The Arctic Five, on the other side, is a regional group which had up until now three formal gatherings in Ilulissat, Greenland (2008); Chelsea, Canada (2010); and Oslo, Norway (2015). It consists of five states, all directly located around the Arctic Ocean (Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, US). Compared to the Council, this body can address all issues happening within the Arctic and is more efficient since it can limit the type of actors involved in decision making. On the other side, the Arctic Five can’t conduct any law since it doesn’t have independent power; it only exists because of the states that comprise it.LII LIII
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