The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental body that was set up in 1996 by the Ottawa declaration to promote cooperation, coordination, and interaction among Arctic States, Arctic indigenous communities, and other Arctic residents on common Arctic issues, such as sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.
The Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) was created in 1991 as a way for the governments of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and the United States to work together on environmental protection projects. This is what led to the creation of the Arctic Council.
The Arctic Council is a group that works to find solutions to problems like changing biodiversity, melting sea ice, plastic pollution, and black carbon. The AEPS tried to talk to and involve Arctic indigenous people in order to recognise their right to their native lands.
Three Indigenous Peoples Organisations (IPOs) representing Inuit (Inuit Circumpolar Council, ICC), Saami (Saami Council, SC), and Russian indigenous peoples (Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, RAIPON) were received as observers in the AEPS.
As people became more aware of the special connection between indigenous peoples and the Arctic, the Arctic countries gave the three IPOs the special status of Permanent Participants (PPs). This made them more important than the other AEPS Observers.
• The eight circumpolar countries are members of the Arctic Council, which is charged with protecting the Arctic environment and promoting the economies, social and cultural well-being of the indigenous people, whose organisations are permanent participants in the council.
• Arctic Council Secretariat: In 2013, the permanent Arctic Council Secretariat opened for business in Troms, Norway.
It was set up to help the Arctic Council with things like administration, institutional memory, better communication and marketing, and general support.
• Members, ad hoc observer countries, and “permanent participants” are all a part of the Council.
Members of the Arctic Council: The Ottawa Declaration says that Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States of America are all members of the Arctic Council.
Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of Denmark.
Permanent participants: Aleut International Association (AIA), Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC), Gwich’in Council International (GCI), Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), and Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPN).
o Saami Council
Observer status is given to non-Arctic states and intergovernmental, interparliamentary, global, regional, and non-governmental organisations that the Council thinks can help it do its job. It is passed by the Council at the once-every-two-year Ministerial Meetings.
o Most of what Arctic Council Observers do is take part in Working Groups.
Observers don’t have the right to vote in the Council.
o Thirteen states that are not in the Arctic have Observer status as of 2022.
• Germany, 1998; Netherlands, 1998; Poland, 1998; UK, 1998; France, 2000; Spain, 2006; China, 2013; India, 2013; Italy, 2013; Japan, 2013; South Korea, 2013; Singapore, 2013; Switzerland, 2017;
Criterion for Admitting Observers:
• When deciding if a applicant is generally qualified to be an observer, the Council will, among other things, look at how well the applicant:
Accept and back the goals set out in the Ottawa declaration by the Arctic Council.
Recognise the authority, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction of the Arctic State in the Arctic.
So, India has legally recognised the Arctic states’ sovereign rights and their control over their own land.
Recognise that the Arctic Ocean is governed by a wide range of laws, including the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and that these laws provide a solid basis for managing this ocean in a responsible way.
o India has also agreed that the UNCLOS is the main law for the Arctic. This means that the eight Arctic States will have the most control over the continental shelf, sea passages, and ocean resources.
Respect the interests, customs, and traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic and other people who live there.
Have shown that they are both willing politically and able financially to help the Permanent Participants and other Arctic indigenous peoples do their jobs.
Have shown that they care about the Arctic and have knowledge about it that is useful to the work of the Arctic Council.
Have shown that they are interested in and able to help the Arctic Council do its job, such as by working with member states and Permanent Participants to bring Arctic issues to global decision-making groups.
How the Council works
• Most of the Council’s work is done in six groups called “Working Groups.”
Arctic Contaminants Action Programme (ACAP): It works as a way to strengthen and support state efforts to reduce pollution from emissions and other sources.
The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) keeps an eye on the environment, ecosystems, and people populations in the Arctic. It also gives governments scientific advice to help them deal with pollution and the bad effects of climate change.
Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group (CAFF): It works to protect Arctic biodiversity and make sure that the Arctic’s live resources will be around for a long time.
Emergency Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Working Group (EPPR): It tries to protect the Arctic environment from the threat or effects of a mistaken release of pollutants or radionuclides.
Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group: This is where all of the Arctic Council’s efforts to protect and use the Arctic marine environment in a healthy way come together.
Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG): It tries to improve the conditions of Arctic communities as a whole and to promote sustainable development in the Arctic.
How does the Council Works?
• The Working Groups do research and work to come up with assessments and suggestions for the Arctic Council. The eight Arctic Council States come to a decision by reaching an agreement, with full consultation and participation from the Permanent Participants.
• The Arctic States take turns being in charge of the Arctic Council every two years. Canada was the first country to be in charge of the Arctic Council, from 1996 to 1998.
Achievements of the Arctic Council:
• Through its Working Groups, the Arctic Council regularly creates comprehensive, cutting-edge environmental, ecological, and social assessments. • The Council has also provided a place for the eight Arctic States to negotiate three important, legally binding agreements.
The first one was made at the 2011 Ministerial Meeting in Nuuk, Greenland. It is called the Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic.
The second agreement, the Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic, was signed at a Ministerial meeting in Kiruna, Sweden, in 2013.
Third, at the 2017 Ministerial meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska, the Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation was signed.
The Arctic Council and India
• India’s relationship with the Arctic started when it signed the Svalbard Treaty in Paris in 1920. The treaty was between Norway, the US, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland, the British overseas Dominions, and Sweden. It was about Spitsbergen.
Spitsbergen is the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, which is in the Arctic Ocean and is part of Norway. Spitsbergen is the only part of Svalbard where people live year-round. More than half of the land is always frozen over. Mountains and fjords, along with glaciers, make up the landscape. Since then, India has been closely watching what happens in the Arctic, especially since the melting of the Arctic ice cap has opened up new opportunities and problems for the rest of the world.
India has scientific, environmental, commercial, and strategic interests in the Arctic region. In 2007, India sent its first scientific expedition to the Arctic Ocean, and in 2008, it opened a research base called “Himadri” at the International Arctic Research Base in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Norway, to study glaciology, atmospheric sciences, and biological sciences.The main goals of Indian research in the Arctic are the following:
To study the possible teleconnections between the temperature of the Arctic and the Indian monsoon by looking at sediment and ice core records from the Arctic glaciers and the Arctic Ocean.
To use satellite data to describe Arctic sea ice in order to figure out how global warming will affect the northern polar area.
To study the movement and mass flow of Arctic glaciers, with a focus on how glaciers affect changes in sea level.
To do a full analysis of the plants and animals of the Arctic and how they react to human actions. It is also planned to do a comparison study of the life forms in both the Arctic and Antarctic.
• On July 23, 2014, scientists from the ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) and the ESSO-National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) successfully set up IndARC, the country’s first multi-sensor moored observatory in the Kongsfjorden fjord of the Arctic, which is about halfway between Norway and the North Pole. This was a big step forward for India’s scientific work in the Arctic.
• In July 2018, the name of the “National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research” was changed by the Ministry of Earth Sciences to “National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research.”
It’s a hub organisation that keeps track of all the study going on at the stations at the poles.
• India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Norwegian Polar Research Institute to work together in science. It has also signed an MOU with Kings Bay, a company owned by the Norwegian government, at Ny-Alesund to provide logistics and infrastructure for Arctic research and to keep the Indian research base “Himadri” in the Arctic.India’s Arctic Policy, called “India and the Arctic: Building a Partnership for Sustainable Development,” was made public in March 2022 by the Ministry of Earth Science.
As an Observer, India has one of the 13 seats in the Arctic Council.
The main Provisions of India’s Arctic Policy are:
• Six central pillars: science and study, environmental protection, economic and human development, transportation and connectivity, and protection of the environment.
Governance and working together with other countries.
Building up the nation’s skills.
• Goals: It aims to improve national skills and abilities in science and exploration, climate and environmental protection, maritime and economic cooperation with the Arctic area.
In order to protect India’s interests in the Arctic, it aims to improve the institutional and human resource capabilities of government, academic, research, and business institutions through coordination between ministries.
Its goal is to learn more about how climate change in the Arctic affects India’s environment, economy, and energy security.
Its goal is to encourage better analysis, predictions, and coordinated policymaking about the effects of Arctic ice melting on India’s economic, military, and strategic interests linked to global shipping routes, energy security, and mining of mineral wealth.
It aims to study the connections between the polar regions and the Himalayas and to strengthen cooperation between India and the countries of the Arctic region through different Arctic forums. It will do this by using both scientific and traditional knowledge to find experts who can help.
The strategy also aims to get India more involved in the Arctic Council and to help people learn more about the complex structures of government in the Arctic, as well as the international laws and geopolitics of the area.
• What does the Arctic mean for India?
The shipping lines that go through the Arctic are a big reason why it is important.
A report from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses says that the negative effects of the Arctic are not only affecting the supply of minerals and hydrocarbons, but also changing the routes that ships take around the world.
o The Ministry of External Affairs says that India can help keep the Arctic safe and steady in a positive way.
The region is very important from a strategic point of view because the Arctic is expected to be ice-free by 2050 and world powers are making a beeline for the natural resources-rich area.
What are the Commercial and Strategic Interests?
• There are a lot of rocks, oil, and gas in the Arctic. Some parts of the Arctic are melting because of global warming. This opens up the area for new shipping paths that could shorten the distances between ports.
Countries that are already doing things in the Arctic hope to have a stake in the commercial utilisation of natural resources in the area. The Arctic Council does not ban the commercial exploitation of resources in the Arctic. It only wants to make sure that it is done in a way that is sustainable and doesn’t hurt the interests of local people or the environment. • To stay relevant in the Arctic region, India should use its observer status in the Arctic Council and think about investing more in the Arctic.
