Marine Cooperation

Ms. Gourley also reported from the work of another Task Force, namely the one on Arctic Marine Cooperation. This group discussed if the time is ripe for an Arctic regional fisheries management organization to manage and protect Arctic marine resources.

"The US ambition is to put something in place ahead of time", Ms. Gourley emphasized, making sure rules are in place before for example major fisheries activities take place in the region. The mandate of the Task Force was extended for another two years in Fairbanks to focus on a non-binding arrangement on marine cooperation.

Black Carbon

Ms. Gourley reported from major achievements during the US chairmanship in the field of black carbon (also known as soot) and methane mitigation efforts. "Many actors have been cooperating on this issue, including all Arctic states and also many of the observer countries", Gourley said.

Countries have started to and will continue to report on their black carbon emissions and their efforts for reducing them. The Arctic states hope to slow down the melting of Arctic ice a little bit through black carbon reduction, which – when deposited on snow and ice – accelerates their melting through absorbing more heat due to its dark surface.

New legally binding agreement

As the signature achievement of the US chairmanship, Ms. Gourley highlighted the Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation, which was signed at the meeting in Fairbanks. This legally-binding document is the result of a six year-long negation of Arctic Council participants.

"The Agreement does not outline a research agenda; rather, it aims to facilitate to do research in the Arctic", Ms. Gourley explained. It should be made easier for researchers to cross borders within the Arctic, especially concerning Russia’s maritime areas.

The Task Force was co-chaired by Russia and the US, and thus the successful conclusion is a major cooperation achievement.

Smooth transition

In her final remarks, Ms. Gourley promised a smooth transition between the chairmanships. The US delegation already worked closely with the preceding Canadian chairmanship, and the same applies to the following Finnish chair.

"Chairmanships are very important", Ms. Gourley emphasized. Since the Arctic Council is not a full-fledged international organization but rather an intergovernmental forum, the institution is very much run by the country that is chairing it, the US SAO explained.

Ms. Gourley closed with the observation that the member states of the Arctic Council definitely have the Council high on their political agendas. "All eight foreign ministers of the Arctic states came to the Fairbanks Ministerial meeting; the first time this has happened in the history of the Council", Ms. Gourley outlined.

Finnish priorities

Following Ms. Gourley’s talk, Markku Lampinen, Deputy Head of the Finish Embassy in Berlin, outlined the program highlights of the Finnish chairmanship of the Arctic Council. These include four themes - environmental protection, connectivity, meteorological cooperation, and education – which highlight continuity with the US program but also new focus areas.

For example, in the field of meteorology Finland aims to deepen the cooperation between the Arctic Council Working Groups and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Mr Lampinen explained. That the WMO was granted observer status at the Fairbanks meeting is indicative of this ambition.

"In the field of education, Finland aims to build on its experience in providing good-quality education in sparsely populated regions like Lapland", Mr Lampinen outlined. Such experience will hopefully be fruitful for improving education standards in many Arctic regions.