Newsletter An Uncertain Future

Newsletter in Norwegian

First to Finnmark in Northern Norway, where the police took action against several fisheries businesses in the region, all with the same ownership. (Norwegian only) 

On the defense side, US troops are headed to Europe for the large-scale US Army Exercise, Defender 25, with follow-on exercises with Allies and partners, including airborne operations in the High North and the Baltics. 

Can the Arctic Council survive another crisis? 

The transition from Norwegian to Danish chairship of the Arctic Council takes place in a digital meeting on May 12th. Two years will then have passed since Norway took over the chairship from Russia, which had invaded Ukraine. Norway took over a council with a broken back. 

There is at least as much tension linked to Denmark's management of Donald Trump's lack of support for precisely what the council is supposed to be working on: climate, Indigenous peoples, and gender equality, to name a few. 

Engaging the Trump administration in the Arctic Council’s work on climate change under Danish leadership could be particularly challenging, says FNI researcher.

Going into the new leadership, Norwegian Anja Kristine Salo has been appointed the new Head of Communications for the Council. 

"The current geopolitical situation shows how important it is that we stick together in the Nordic region," says the Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers. 

Research 

Meet researcher Sohvi Kangasluoma (34), who lives in a sailboat while journeying across the Arctic, researching the sea ice that impacts and defines the very lives of the Arctic people, including her own. 

On Svalbard, Norwegian authorities require the lion sculptures that guard the entrance to China's research station to be removed.  

Industrial news 

In Commentator Arne O. Holm's comment, you can read about those who fled Norwegian tax policies and a lack of predictability in the industrial policy.

“Those who left for the US got the worst of it. It turns out the grass wasn't greener on the other side of the Atlantic,” Holm concludes. 

And speaking of green: The Swedish National Audit Office approves the mining company LKAB's work on the green transformation of its operations. (Norwegian only) 

Russian gas 

For the first time since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, EU imports of Russian liquefied natural gas have recorded a significant drop. 

As the EU is gearing up to publish its roadmap to phase out Russian LNG, China’s appetite for deliveries of supercooled gas from the Arctic could see a rise in the coming months. 

But even if Western sanctions have impeded or complicated much of Russia’s energy economy, the Yamal LNG plant continues to export liquefied gas like clockwork. 

Read about this and more at High North News. Feel free to share the newsletter with others who may be interested.

Arctic greetings from Editor-in-Chief Trine Jonassen