wp.arcticportal.org

Category: News & Press Releases

Vacancy for the post of General Secretary at the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)

Applications are invited for the post of General Secretary of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The post, which will become vacant on 31 January 2012, is based at the Council’s headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.

ICES, the world’s oldest intergovernmental scientific organisation, promotes and co-ordinates marine research pertaining to living resources and their environment, publishes the results of this research, and provides scientific information and advice for the management of fisheries and the marine environment.

While ICES is proud of its rich tradition of excellence in marine science, it is continuously changing to keep pace with modern needs. These changes involve broadening participation in ICES activities, developing new scientific programmes, tailoring scientific advice to meet changing user needs, and modernising infrastructure that supports the ICES scientific community. The General Secretary needs to be a dynamic leader of such changes.

E-mail applications, including curriculum vitae and references, should be submitted to gerd.hubold@ices.dk no later than Thursday 31 March 2011. Additional information about the post may be obtained from the General Secretary Gerd Hubold at gerd.hubold@ices.dk.

December 21, 2010
New Cooperation Agreement on Search and Rescue in the Arctic

Member states of the Arctic Council, Canada, Denmark on behalf f the Faroe islands and Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and The US have finished drafting a cooperation agreement on search and rescue in the Arctic in a meeting held in Reykjavík 14.-16.

December. In addition to state representatives, around 50 academics and experts from the respective states and International Civil Aviation Organization participated in the meeting, which is a final part of a year long work process.

The agreement targets the changed reality in the Arctic where due to the climate change increasing transportation opportunities have emerged in recent years and are only to increase in coming years. Until now, there have lacked a coordinated emergency response scheme for the Arctic ocean and airspace. The new agreement will divide the Arctic into specific search and rescue areas, each Arctic state being liable for specific territory.

The agreement is historical also in political sense, since it is the first international agreement between the eight Arctic states brought about under the auspices of the Arctic Council. It is anticipated that this new agreement will follow other agreements targeting issues as important for the Arctic region, such as pollution and renewable natural resources.

The agreement on search and rescue will have its final seal in the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in May 2011 in Nuuk, Greenland, where it will be signed by the eight Arctic States.

Source: Icelandic Foreign Ministry

December 17, 2010
New Saami Parliament in Murmansk Oblast

Barents Observer / Barents Indigenous Peoples’ Office – The Russian Saami in Kola peninsula have founded a first democratically elected representative organ by establishing the Saami Parliament of Murmansk Oblast or Kuelnegk Soamet Sobbar, as the Parliament is called in original language.

The Kola peninsula Parliament, which is one of now four Saami Parliaments, was established on December 12th 2010 by the 2nd Congress of the Saami people of Murmansk Oblast, which has until now been the main representative organ of the some 2,000 Saami people living on the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The new parliament will have 9 representatives elected by delegates representing Saami communities in Murmansk Oblast and will be chaired by Valentina V. Sovkina.

December 14, 2010
EU-ARCTIC-Forum debate on EP Report A Sustainable EU Policy for the High North
EU-ARCTIC-Forum will be hosting a debate with Arctic Stakeholders on the European Parliaments Report “A Sustainable EU policy for the High North” on 8. December 2010 in Brussels.

Birgit Schnieber-Jastram, Chair of the EU-ARCTIC-Forum will host the meeting with the rapporteur Michael Gahler MEP and the shadow rapporteurs Anneli Jäätteenmäki MEP, Liisa Jaakonsaari MEP, Indrek Tarand MEP and Konrad Szymanski MEP before the December 9 vote of the Report in the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

With the debate the EU-ARCTIC-Forum in the European Parliament wants to ensure a proper involvement of stakeholders facilitating thus well informed discourse in Brussels on Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Resources, World Trade Routes, Security, Sustainable Development etc, that are important subjects in the Arctic context.

Those who want to participate and do not have an access badge to the EP yet, please send your details for registration (name, surname, date of birth, address) asap to Michael Gahler MEP. (michael.gahler(at)europarl.europa.eu)

8. December at 17.15

in Room ASP 3 H 1

in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Presentation and Consideration of the Draft Report on “A sustainable EU Policy for the High North” in the last meetings of the European Parliaments Committee on Foreign Affairs

Summary

Overall the Draft Report seems to be well perceived, both in the EU and in the Arctic. Thus there is justified hope that the Report will not only contribute to outline the EU’s Arctic policy, but also to contribute to confidence building with the Arctic stakeholders. The Draft Report undertakes to asses the existing legal and political framework in the Arctic as well as to establish a clear set of priorities of the European Union with regard to the Arctic. In the last part the Report is formulating suggestions and request to the European Commission and the Council and offering close cooperation to the Arctic states and stakeholders.

The Draft Report is clearly stating that the Arctic Region is not a legal vacuum, but has a developed set of rules which nevertheless need to be further developed due to changing circumstances.

Main priorities of the EU in the Arctic set out are:
- The road to a sustainable socio-economic development and environmental protection
- The potential of new world transport routes and their vital importance to the EU member’s states
- The potential of developing resources like Hydrocarbons, Minerals, fish and biogenetic resources
With regard to a sustainable socio-economic development the Eco-System based management approach as applied in the Barents today is recognized. The Report makes a clear statement as to the responsibility of the EU as one of the main contributors to pollution and climate change.

In its conclusion the Report requests the Commission to set up a permanent Inter service on the Arctic and likewise in the future EEAS.
Requests and suggestions are made as to a new circumpolar co-funding and co-programming research programme.
Finally the importance of EU engagement in the further development of Northern Sea Routes is highlighted and suggestions as to the Galileo project are made.

After an intense period of organized hearings, meetings and preparations on Tuesday, 9. November, the Draft of the European Parliaments Report on “A sustainable EU Policy for the High North” was presented and debated by the Parliaments Rapporteur Michael Gahler MEP.

Draft Report

List of Amendments

About the EU-ARCTIC-Forum in the European Parliament

Function

The EU-Arctic-Forum was constructed to provide the European Institutions with a cross-party platform to foster a better understanding of changes in the Arctic Region and its implication for Europeans citizens politics and businesses, to facilitate a well informed and balanced debate, as well as to bolster the development of a coherent European Policy with regard to the Arctic Region.

The EU-ARCTIC-Forum is the European Parliament’s platform working on all Issues with regard to the Arctic, providing not only for exchange and input of information but to interlink the so far too often fragmented debates on the Arctic.

Participants

The EU-ARCTIC-Forum is involving a number of MEP’s from all major political groups and several committees, Delegations and Intergroup’s such as the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Environment, Transport, Industry, Research and Energy, Development and Transport.

Thus the EU-ARCTIC-Forum works as the European Parliaments platform interlinking all issues regarding the Arctic Region.

It invites on a regular basis speakers from the scientific community, business, NGOs, and international institutions in the format of breakfast briefings, seminars or dinner speeches.

Future Meetings are already organized and interest to participate was already expressed by several Commissioners and other High Officials, Foreign Ministers and Ambassadors of several Arctic States, as well as high profile leaders of the international or European Institutions such as the European Environmental Agency, the International Maritime Organization and the Nordic Council of Ministers, but also from Civil society, NGO’ s and the energy, fishing and shipping industry as well by leading academics in the field.

Contributions

In light of the ambition to stimulate and contribute to an informed debate, we call for contributions to the EU-ARCTIC-Newsletter by all interested participants and readers. We want to invite you to share your insights and opinions with the politicians, experts and stakeholders whose work will be addressed by this newsletter.

The editor of the EU-Arctic-Newsletter and the organizers of the EU-ARCTIC-Forum look forward to your valuable comments and contributions and would like to draw your attention in particular to the forthcoming activities on the European Parliaments Report on “A sustainable EU Policy for the High North” in November and December in Brussels!
December 7, 2010
Russian Sovcomflot Group and China National Petroleum Corporation sign a strategic cooperation agreement

Barents Observer – The Sovcomflot Group (SCF), Russia’s largest shipping company and one of the world’s leading energy transporters, and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, signed a strategic cooperation agreement in the energy transportation.

The agreement is founded on the Sovcomflot’s experience in trans-Arctic shipping and will utilize the transportation potential of the Northern Sea Route, shipping hydrocarbons and transporting oil and gas extracted at Russian northern coast.

Both China and Russia have showed increasing interest in cooperation in the Arctic waters. Just lately, the Russians signed a treaty on maritime delimitation and cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean with Norway. China on the other hand has actively discussed various aspects of Arctic shipping with, at least, Norway, Russia and Iceland.

November 28, 2010
The Arctic in the new millennium:
Confrontation or cooperation
November 25^th, the University of Akureyri
NEXUS, research forum for security and defense
UNAK, Polar Law Institute
Northern Research Forum

On 25 November, the University of Akureyri, NEXUS: a Research Forum on Security and Defence), and the Northern Research Forum – in cooperation with the Icelandic Foreign Ministry – are co-organizing a Conference on Arctic matters. The Conference will be held at the University of Akureyri from 9:00 to 17:00 hours.

Before noon there will be lectures on traditional security, societal security and human rights, as well as environmental security in the Arctic. After lunch, working groups will be formed on these same themes, and will then present their findings in plenary at the end of the day.

The conference will be WebCasted on the Arctic Portal

Program

9.00
- Welcoming speech by Stefán B. Sigurðsson, Rector of University of Akureyri
9.10
- Jónas Gunnar Allansson, Senior Arctic Official, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  – Setting the agenda
9.25

States, citizens and security – chaired by Auður Ingólfsdóttir
- Jennifer Rhemann, Polar Law MA Candidate, University of Akureyri, Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) Discipline Coordinator for Polar Law and Policy and Council Co-Chair
  – Security Benefits of International Collaboration in Scientific Endeavours and Conservation Efforts
- Gústav Pétursson, MA in International Relations
  – The High North: A Multidimensional Security Approach
- Ágúst Þór Árnason, Director of Polar Law Institute
  – Citizenship in a Global Context: Future Perspectives for the 21st Century
10.15 – 10.25
Coffee break

10.25
Traditional- and political security – chaired by Alyson Bailes
- Björn Bjarnason, Former minister of Justice and chair of Varðberg and Samtök um vestræna samvinnu
  – Arctic Security: An Icelandic Perspective
- Jakob Þór Kristjánsson, PhD student at the University of Iceland
  – Security Dilemma in the High North, is a Resource War Looming?
- Margrét Cela, PhD student at the University of Lapland
  – Traditional security in the official policies of the Arctic eight
11.15 -11.20
Coffee break

11.20
Environmental- and energy security – chaired by Jennifer Rhemann
- Auður Ingólfsdóttir, Assistant professor, Bifröst University
  – Climate Change and Environmental Security in the Arctic: Links between geopolitical concerns and local challenges
- Húni Hallsson, Project Manager, Polar law Institute
  – Arctic shipping: Evaluation of risks and benefits
- Guðmundur Egill Erlendsson, ML and LL.M in Polar Law, Associate at Lögmannsstofa Akureyrar, and Freelance scholar
  – Energy Security Issues in the North: Viable Alternatives and Extreme Measures
- Soffia Guðmundsdóttir, Pame
  – To be announced
- Tom Barry, Executive Director of CAFF (Concervation of Arctic Flaura and Fauna) & Eydís Líndal Finnbogadóttir, Manager of Geographic Information Systems at the National Land Survey of Iceland
  – Monitoring in the Arctic and the Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure project
13.00-13.45
Lunch break

13.45
Working groups begin
- Working group 1 – States, citizens and security:
  chaired by Jóhanna Þórdísardóttir, MA in International Relations
- Working group 2 – Geopolitics and traditional security:
  chaired by Gústav Pétursson
- Working group 3 – Environmental and energy security:
  chaired by Jennifer Rhemann
15.00 – 15.20:
Coffee break

15.20 – 16.40
Group presentations. Each presentation should take 10-15 minutes followed by
10 – 15 minutes discussion. Chaired by Margrét Cela

16.45
Alyson Bailes, Adjunct Professor, University of Iceland
– Closing remarks

17.00
Closing and thank you remarks from NEXUS (Margrét Cela Chair of NEXUS), UNAK, NRF and MFA Followed by reception
November 24, 2010
IPY 2012 From Knowledge to Action Conference First Circular is out
The IPY 2012 Conference in Montreal is the final event of International Polar Year 2007 – 2008, the largest international program of interdisciplinary polar research ever undertaken.

This upcoming international forum in April 2012 will be a valuable opportunity to demonstrate and apply the latest findings of polar research on a broad range of topics from oceans and sea ice, to permafrost, vegetation and wildlife, to changes in Arctic communities and beyond. The “From Knowledge to Action” Conference will present the highlights of IPY 2007-2008 and the recent polar science assessments that are advancing our knowledge of the polar regions.

The Conference will be organized around 4 main areas:
1. Highlight the latest polar science findings
2. Synthesize knowledge and results into system-scale understandings
3. Link knowledge to action
4. Advance public engagement to further action on polar issues
November 19, 2010
Fiery Ice, possibly the next big energy source

Methane clathrate, also called methane hydrates, methane ice or fire ice is something that most of us are perhaps not to familiar with but could potentially have great significance for future energy use globally and especially in the Arctic.

Methane clathrate is a crystaline form of methane gas and pure water that exists when pressure is sufficiently high, or temperature sufficiently low. Given that these conditions exist the substance looks like a lump of ice. The quantity of the substance is staggeringly abundant estimated about 300,000 trillion cubic feet locatid at the bottom of the ocean all over the world and in the Arctic permafrost. It is believed to be the cleanest and most abundant source of energy in the world.

There is however naturally a big if involved as it’s harvesting and utilization is extremely complex. Once the material is extracted from either it’s pressure drops or temperature rises the material will expand 164 times, representing significant storage and transport issues. Due to it’s obvious problems the utilization of Methane clathrate is in it’s early stages.

A Japanese and Candadian Science project was just concluded in the Mackenzie Delta. Over two winter the researchers drilled down more than a kilometer into a 150 meter thick layer by the edge of the Beaufort Seat at Malik which contains the most concentrated known deposit of the frozen fuel in the world. Initial results are a step in the right direction as scientists were able to sustain steady flow of gas from the hydrates for six days, where previous attempts have only sustained the flow for a few hours.

“It’s a landmark, no doubt about it,” says Ray Boswell, technical manager of the U.S. government’s gas hydrate program. Even if there are significant challenges in the utilization of Methane clathrate or Fiery Ice but due to the quantity available of the substance and it’s environmentally friendly attributes compared to other sources of energy future developments seem to be something one should definitely be on the look for.

Source: Arctic Focus

November 18, 2010
Russian cargo vessel to Shanghai and back through Northern Sea Route

Norilsk Nickel – Russian Arctic-class cargo vessel returned yesterday, Tuesday, to harbour in Dudinka after being first in history to navigate through the Arctic waters without any ice-breaker support.

The vessel travelled through the Northern Sea Route by Russian Arctic coastline to Shanghai and back taking total of 58 days, total steaming time of 41 days, for the trip. Total length of the round trip Dudinka-Providence Bay-Busang-Shanghai-Nakhodka-Dudinka was 11,320 miles from which approximately half was in clear water and half in ices.

According to Sergey Buzov, Deputy General Director – Head of Transport and Logistics unit of MMC Morilsk Nickel the trip was an invaluable experience, which they will use in future to plan their transport operations and can indeed be regarded as the Company’s contribution to the development of Russian Maritime Declaration in exploration and development of new Arctic regions and Arctic wealth.

At the moment Company owns five ARC-7 ice-class vessels for Arctic transportation and the sixth will be introduced in 2011. The vessels are built in accordance with latest environmental and technological standards enabling them to navigate independently through Arctic ice without ice-breaker support.

November 17, 2010
A sustainable EU Policy for the High North draft report presented and debated this week in Brussel
The Draft report undertakes to asses the existing legal and political framework in the Arctic as well as to establish a clear set of priorities of the European Union with regard to the Arctic.

The report suggests that the European Commission and the Council and offering close cooperation to the Arctic states and stakeholders. The draft report clearly recognizes that the Arctic is far from being a legal vacuum, but has developed a set of rules which will nevertheless need to be further developed due to changing circumstances.

Main priorities of the EU in the Arctic set out are:
- The road to a sustainable socio-economic development and environmental protection
- The potential of new world transport routes and their vital importance to the EU member’s states
- The potential of developing resources like Hydrocarbons, Minerals, fish and biogenetic resources
With regard to a sustainable socio-economic development the Eco-System based management approach as applied in the Barents today is recognized.

The report acknowledges the responsibility of the EU as one of the main contributors to pollution and climate change.

In its conclusion the Report requests the Commission to set up a permanent Inter service on the Arctic and likewise in the future EEAS.

Requests and suggestions are made as to a new circumpolar co-funding and co-programming research programme.

Finally the importance of EU engagement in the further development of Northern Sea Routes is highlighted and suggestions as to the Galileo project are made.

Overall the Draft Report seems to be well perceived, both in the EU and in the Arctic.

Thus there is justified hope that the Report will not only contribute to outline the EU’s Arctic policy, but also to contribute to confidence building with the Arctic stakeholders.
- The Report can be downloaded in all the EU languages
The Process will continue with the EU Arctic Forum hosting the Meeting with the European Parliaments Rapporteur to discuss the report on “A Sustainable EU policy for the High North” on 7. December 2010.

The text from the official announcement can be seen here:

Birgit Schnieber-Jastram, Chair of the EU-ARCTIC-Forum now has the pleasure to host a meeting with the rapporteur and several shadow rapporteurs before the vote of the Report in the Committee on Foreign Affairs takes place.

The Rapporteur Michael Gahler MEP is looking forward to present and debate the Report on A sustainable EU Policy for the High North as well as amendments on 7. December at 09.00 (tbc) in the European Parliament in Brussels.

To ensure fair involvement of Arctic stakeholders the Chair of the EU-ARCTIC-Forum in the European Parliament Birgit Schnieber-Jastram MEP is inviting you to participate in the debate and in particular welcomes any contributions, which should be made in due time by contacting the Adviser on the Report to Michael Gahler MEP: Mr. Steffen Weber, Or the respective shadow rapporteurs and members of the EU-ARCTIC-Forum: Anneli Jäätteenmäki MEP, Liisa Jaakonsaari MEP, Indrek Tarand MEP, Konrad Szymanski MEP and Sabine Lösing MEP.

The EU-ARCTIC-Forum in the European Parliament thus wants to ensure the proper involvement of stakeholders and continues its work to facilitate and bolster a well informed debate on Arctic Issues in Brussels and to interlink debates on Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Resources, World Trade Routes, Security, Sustainable Development etc, that are important in the Arctic context.
November 15, 2010