When the Arctic Council came into being with the signing of the Ottawa Declaration on Sept. 19, 1996, its survival was far from a foregone conclusion. Now, after 20 years in operation, the time has come for reflection. Founded as a consensus-based forum for cooperation, coordination, and interaction between Arctic states and, significantly, with the

By Erica Dingman The fourth annual Arctic Circle Assembly, held from Oct. 7 to 9 in Reykjavik, Iceland, was a striking display of Arctic networks. The comingling of social networks representing a wide range of interests—from the commercial sector, academia, NGOs, and indigenous peoples to federal and subnational governments—later prompted discussion of commercial networks. From

Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark, is becoming increasingly active in expanding its global partnerships and developing its domestic economy. Erica Dingman, director of World Policy Institute’s Arctic in Context initiative, discussed the island’s long-term goals for its export and tourism industries and addressed the effects of climate change with Inuuteq Holm Olsen, Greenland’s first

By Adam Lajeunesse Earlier this spring, the Chinese government turned heads in Canada by publishing a lengthy guidebook to shipping through the Northwest Passage. Entitled Arctic Navigation Guide (Northwest Passage), the work was produced by China’s Maritime Safety Administration to assist the Chinese shipping companies that, it was assumed, would soon be using the northern

Introduced by Erica Dingman Twenty years since the signing of the Ottawa Declaration, formally launching the Arctic Council, the U.S. has reached the mid-point of its second rotation as chair of the Arctic Council. Momentous as the founding of the Arctic Council was at the time, after years of hard negotiations the event received little

“In the Arctic, roads are magical. They appear in the fall and melt in the spring. Others, buckled by permafrost, undulate in the snow. Many are invisible to the naked eye — caribou migration routes that exist only by instinct. During the sunless, frigid winter, the Arctic Ocean becomes one vast road for polar bears

By Ashley Chappo Climate change is not always seen as a negative, at least if you listen to some increasingly animated venture capitalists weighing in over the melting of the Northern sea ice. In February 2015, the maximum annual Arctic sea ice extent measured just 5.61 million square miles during its winter peak, the lowest

By Arne Riedel and Katherine Weingartner In an age when technology is often seen as a part of everyday life, it can be easy to forget that not everyone has equal access to technology. The Arctic is a prime example of a region in which access to technology is a significant challenge for a number

By Kevin McGwin Greenpeace is known for a lot of things. Many of them good. But among those who spend their time thinking about the Arctic, it is perhaps most closely associated with the disastrous impacts its efforts to stop Canada’s commercial seal harvest had on the Inuit and their ability to make a living

By Heather Exner-Pirot When Shell announced last month they would cancel their Chukchi Sea operations “for the foreseeable future,” many southern environmentalists were jubilant. As Greenpeace U.K. executive director John Sauven said, “Big oil has sustained an unmitigated defeat. They had a budget of billions, we had a movement of millions. For three years we