introduction

03

GOVERNING THE ARCTIC

This chapter introduces the actors that play a role in the political rearrangement of the Arctic environment. Currently, five countries, namely: Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Russia, and The United States, form the total environment of the Arctic. Furthermore, also Finland, Sweden, and Iceland have rights and privileges within the Arctic region. Each country comes back into one or more of the existing political bodies, furthermore, several other voices also exist within the Arctic, namely, the indigenous people, the commercial actors, the states with their representatives, and the scientists. The inclusion of these actors provides another way of looking at power relations embedded within our geopolitical system and places the political field of the Arctic under another sunlight. It shows the influence of multiple fields and perspectives on this geopolitical system.XLI

Indigenous people The indigenous people were the start of the political history of the Arctic. In the past, ice covered a large part of the Arctic ocean. Consequently, Inuit people16 could quickly move from one country to another. So, already at that moment, the borders between Canada, Russia, America, and Greenland were blurred.XLII

The commercial actors The isolated location of the Arctic made it a difficult place to discover. During the 1500s to 1900s, several explorations with the support of Consortiums of business actors17, as well as military actors18 , took place.XLIII Today, the region changes fast and brings resources to the surface. As a consequence, actors from several fields -nations, military, commercial, indigenous people- are all arguing for a place at the table to govern the economic Arctic. XLIV

The states and their representatives The melting of the ice gave rise to new investment opportunities in the Arctic region. As explained earlier, the EEZ requires countries to claim a certain land before they can exploit the resources of this land. As a consequence, all the five bordering states started to build a case to claim a particular piece of land. This notion of claiming land is why in the period of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, the concept of state became important to legalize property within the Arctic region. Besides, also the development and ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS19) in 1982 was a factor that allowed to maintain peace between the various actors located within the Arctic ocean.XLV The scientists Within this UNCLOS convention, scientists play an essential role. Before a country can claim resources from the Arctic seabed, they need to submit a case. This case consists of scientific data that can prove the extent of their EEZ. So, this scientific effort is essential to allow the bordering nations of the Arctic ocean to claim their piece

of land.XLVI XLVII

16 See chapter communities in ‘the bank of evidence’ to uderstand the history of the Nenets and the impact climate change has on their way of living. 17 One of the earliest and most important explorers of the region was Henry Hudson, a very capable navigator who made many important discoveries between 1607 and 1612. He sailed with the HOPEWELL, a ship sponsored by the British Muscovy Company.CII 18 Initially, some explorers believed that enough open water existed for a ship to navigate to the North Pole. This led to the ill-fated Jeannette expedition, led by the U.S. Navy in 1879. The Navy believed that warm ocean currents flowed from the Pacific Ocean into the Arctic through the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia, maintaining ice-free waters all the way to the North Pole. However, this was not the case, and the Jeannette quickly became stuck in the sea ice shortly after passing through the Bering Strait.CIII 19 The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was open for signature on 10 December 1982. The convention lays down a comprehensive regime of law and order in the world’s oceans and seas establishing rules governing all uses of the oceans and their resources. It enshrines the notion that all problems of ocean space are closely interrelated and need to be addressed as a whole.CIV

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 Furthermore, we also have the Inuit Circumpolar Council, founded in 1977. It unifies the Inuktitut speaking people21 from Alaska, Greenland, Canada, and Russia and gives them the possibility to take a joint position in the discussions about the climatic impacts within the Arctic environment. This shared voice is essential since the changing snow and ice conditions, and the decline in animal populations drastically changes their traditional way of life. Besides, the Inuit also help to create more awareness from the south about the immediacy of the climate change crisis within the Arctic environment.LIV

The establishment of these three different bodies raises concerns; the Arctic Five undermines the intention of the Arctic Council to create an international governing body since it only consists of the five bordering ocean states and, in this way, doesn’t include other voices from around the world. On the other side, also the Arctic Council has some limitations as a forum to conduct fast Arctic international governance, the Arctic Five can help the Council with this limitation since it can put quick pressure on Arctic issues. So, the combination of both is interesting because it combines the fast-non-binding pressure agreements of the Arctic Five with the binding international agreements of the Arctic Council. Besides, also the Inuit’s are necessary to create a sense of intimacy in the Arctic region. To conclude, the combination of the local human scale, as well as the international bodies, can construct a new legal framework for the fast-changing environment of the Arctic.LV

20 See chapter resources in ‘the bank of evidence’, explains why these resources are located within the Arctic region and how they influence the existing political as well as natural enviroment. 21 See chapter communities in ‘the bank of evidence’ to understand how the Nenets (a tribe living in the Arctic region) are living and what the important factors are for the indiginous people living within the region of the Arctic circle.