TROMSO, Norway – More than two months after the invasion of Ukraine and the interruption of the work of the Arctic Council, currently chaired by Russia, the other seven member states are drawing up a plan for the future, said leaders of circumpolar countries at an international conference on Monday.
“We have a responsibility as Arctic states to continue this important work,” James DeHart, coordinator of the Arctic region office at the US State Department, told the audience at the Arctic Frontiers conference made up of dignitaries, ministers, business people, researchers and academics.
“Our senior Arctic officials are working very hard on this and on how to do this without harming the Council in the long term. Since the value of the Council lies in the eight Arctic States [incluant la Russie] and in all the peoples of the region, we cannot [effectuer une réforme] immediately. »
We have to find a way to do this and we have to do it with some urgency.James DeHart, Coordinator of the United States Department of State Arctic Region Office
James DeHart says structural changes to the Arctic Council are not being considered, but he did not elaborate on possible avenues.
“We’re pretty happy with the structure as it is,” he says. “We do not want to change the members, but rather want [que le Conseil puisse faire son travail]. »
The Arctic Council is an international forum made up of the eight Arctic countries and six Arctic indigenous groups: the International Aleut Association, the Arctic Athabaskan Council, the Gwich’in Council International, the Inuit Circumpolar, the Russian Association of Indigenous and Northern Peoples and the Sami Council.
The Council was founded in 1996 for northern states to work together for environmental protection and sustainable development.
Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the United States announced in March that they were suspending work at the Arctic Council following the invasion of Ukraine. by Russia.
Russia currently holds the council’s two-year presidency and has said it will continue with its program to lead the forum as planned.
Arctic ‘Group of Seven’ pledges to continue working on common goals
Norway will take over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council next year. Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said she believed in the Council’s endurance and said that Norway was preparing the priorities for its presidency as planned.
“Challenges in the Arctic will not go away, they will always have to be addressed in the future,” she says. “This requires multilateral cooperation. »
Norway will chair the Arctic Council from May next year and all preparations are underway. It will be a very different presidency from what we had anticipated.Anniken Huitfeldt, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway
James DeHart says that despite the break with Russia, the seven western circumpolar countries remain committed to their goals for the region.
“We want tensions to remain low in the Arctic. We want to keep it peaceful and focus on the well-being and development of the people who live in the area. We want the Arctic to remain a place of adherence to international law and rules and want the Arctic Council to continue to be the primary forum. I think there is more continuity than change. »
“These are not our borders”
Christina Henriksen, chairwoman of the Sami Council, the organization that represents indigenous Sami people in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia (the Sami ancestral territory known as Sapmi), disagrees.
“For us, everything has changed” she says.
[Les Samis] of the four countries were forced to suspend formal cooperation between them.Christina Henriksen, President of the Sami Council
“We were supposed to celebrate 30 years of cooperation at our conference in August, but that’s not going to happen. We keep in touch informally with our friends, our families and our partners because it is a very important dimension. These borders [qui divisent le Sapmi] were not our idea. »
She points out that cooperation with indigenous Arctic peoples in Russia is also at stake.
“There are more than 40 indigenous peoples in northern Russia and they make up an important part of the Arctic. I see no future without cooperation between the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. »
The future of Arctic cooperation depends on Russia
The climate crisis and other issues facing northern communities and peoples mean Arctic cooperation cannot be halted indefinitely, argues David Balton, executive director of the White House Arctic Committee .
“We have to get back to work,” he said. “But we can’t pretend that the events in Ukraine didn’t happen and aren’t happening right now. They shocked our conscience. »
We cannot move forward in the Arctic in a way that would give legitimacy to what is happening in Ukraine and what Russia is doing there.David Balton, Executive Director of the White House Arctic Committee
“The Arctic Council and [d’autres institutions qui ont interrompu leurs activités] require Russian participation. The hope is that somehow we can find our way back. But that largely depends on Russia, it does not depend on us. »
The Arctic Frontiers conference runs until May 11.
Contact Eilis Quinn at [email protected]
Translated from English by Mathieu Gobeil, Eye on the Arctic
Reference-www.rcinet.ca