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Ilulissat Declaration
The Ilulissat Declaration is a document signifying necessary joint regional efforts and responsibilities in response to the potentially adverse effects of climate change with regard to the melting Arctic ice pack.
It was brought into force on May 28, 2008, by the United States, the Russian Federation, Canada, Norway and Denmark (the five coastal states of the Arctic Ocean, also known as the Arctic five or A5), following the Arctic Ocean Conference in Ilulissat, Greenland. The conference delegates discussed the Arctic Ocean, climate change, the protection of the marine environment, maritime safety, and division of emergency responsibilities if new shipping routes are opened. The declaration addresses the areas of "vulnerable ecosystems, the livelihoods of local inhabitants and indigenous communities, and the potential exploitation of natural resources", invoking a jurisdictional and sovereign-based approach to convey the responsibilities of the Arctic five.
The increasingly concerning consequences of climate change in the Arctic, resulting in melting Arctic sea ice, have become ground for enhanced attention and cooperation in the region. Fear of economic exploitation and pollution in the Arctic Ocean was a key source of momentum in drafting and implementing the Ilulissat Declaration. Melting Arctic ice, exacerbated by climate change, has intensified concerns that economic activities in the area will further degrade the environment – thereby calling for renewed cooperation efforts and reaffirming territorial claims. For example, melting of the sea ice will lead to more Arctic shipping routes, such as the Northwest Passage, that could lead to economic exploitation in the Arctic.
The territorial dimension of the declaration was seen by many as a response to Russian explorers planting the Russian flag at the bottom of the seabed of the Arctic Ocean in 2007, just the year prior to the Ilulissat Declaration. This occurrence had a snowball effect in the media, with warnings of a scramble for the Arctic. Such depictions of intense geopolitical friction heightened the fear of territorial rivalry in the rapidly melting Arctic, from which arose the Ilulissat Declaration.
Furthermore, it was feared that a so-called 'governance gap', brought to light by the flag-incident, was further problematising matters, resulting in an international impression of disorder in the Arctic region – which the regional states realised would give ammunition for foreign states to try to make a claim in the area. Thus, the commitment of the A5 to the Ilulissat Declaration was also designed to act as an international indication and reminder that there was already "regional order in the Arctic".
Linked to the aforementioned fear of a perceived 'governance gap', another motivation for creating this declaration was merely to block any calls for an Arctic Treaty that would bring in new legislation and new states. The framework of regional governance is supported in the Ilulissat Declaration, stating that the existing legal framework – the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – is to continue to be respected and kept firmly in place.
As the A5 only make up five of the eight members of the Arctic Council, this meant that the Arctic Council, as a complete forum, was not included – missing Sweden, Iceland, and Finland. Also excluded were Indigenous organisations such as the permanent participants of the Arctic Council, like the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC)
The 2008 Arctic Ocean Conference (where the declaration was drafted) was hosted by Per Stig Møller, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, and Hans Enoksen, Greenlandic Premier at the time. The key ministerial level attendees included Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre, Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gary Lunn, Canadian Minister for Natural Resources, and John Negroponte, American Deputy Secretary of State.
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Ilulissat Declaration
The Ilulissat Declaration is a document signifying necessary joint regional efforts and responsibilities in response to the potentially adverse effects of climate change with regard to the melting Arctic ice pack.
It was brought into force on May 28, 2008, by the United States, the Russian Federation, Canada, Norway and Denmark (the five coastal states of the Arctic Ocean, also known as the Arctic five or A5), following the Arctic Ocean Conference in Ilulissat, Greenland. The conference delegates discussed the Arctic Ocean, climate change, the protection of the marine environment, maritime safety, and division of emergency responsibilities if new shipping routes are opened. The declaration addresses the areas of "vulnerable ecosystems, the livelihoods of local inhabitants and indigenous communities, and the potential exploitation of natural resources", invoking a jurisdictional and sovereign-based approach to convey the responsibilities of the Arctic five.
The increasingly concerning consequences of climate change in the Arctic, resulting in melting Arctic sea ice, have become ground for enhanced attention and cooperation in the region. Fear of economic exploitation and pollution in the Arctic Ocean was a key source of momentum in drafting and implementing the Ilulissat Declaration. Melting Arctic ice, exacerbated by climate change, has intensified concerns that economic activities in the area will further degrade the environment – thereby calling for renewed cooperation efforts and reaffirming territorial claims. For example, melting of the sea ice will lead to more Arctic shipping routes, such as the Northwest Passage, that could lead to economic exploitation in the Arctic.
The territorial dimension of the declaration was seen by many as a response to Russian explorers planting the Russian flag at the bottom of the seabed of the Arctic Ocean in 2007, just the year prior to the Ilulissat Declaration. This occurrence had a snowball effect in the media, with warnings of a scramble for the Arctic. Such depictions of intense geopolitical friction heightened the fear of territorial rivalry in the rapidly melting Arctic, from which arose the Ilulissat Declaration.
Furthermore, it was feared that a so-called 'governance gap', brought to light by the flag-incident, was further problematising matters, resulting in an international impression of disorder in the Arctic region – which the regional states realised would give ammunition for foreign states to try to make a claim in the area. Thus, the commitment of the A5 to the Ilulissat Declaration was also designed to act as an international indication and reminder that there was already "regional order in the Arctic".
Linked to the aforementioned fear of a perceived 'governance gap', another motivation for creating this declaration was merely to block any calls for an Arctic Treaty that would bring in new legislation and new states. The framework of regional governance is supported in the Ilulissat Declaration, stating that the existing legal framework – the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – is to continue to be respected and kept firmly in place.
As the A5 only make up five of the eight members of the Arctic Council, this meant that the Arctic Council, as a complete forum, was not included – missing Sweden, Iceland, and Finland. Also excluded were Indigenous organisations such as the permanent participants of the Arctic Council, like the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC)
The 2008 Arctic Ocean Conference (where the declaration was drafted) was hosted by Per Stig Møller, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, and Hans Enoksen, Greenlandic Premier at the time. The key ministerial level attendees included Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre, Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gary Lunn, Canadian Minister for Natural Resources, and John Negroponte, American Deputy Secretary of State.