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Letter from the Editor in Chief

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By Outi Snellman, Vice-President Organization, UArctic

Has it really been twenty years? In many ways it seems now that the Arctic Council and our current era of globalization and cooperation have always been with us; they are a part of our daily life in the same way that we cannot imagine a world before the internet and smart phones. In reality, however, the change from the previous era was rapid and dramatic.

The University of the Arctic (UArctic), for which I have worked almost the same twenty-year period – although it did not officially launch until 2001 – was very much a child of the Arctic Council. UArctic’s creation as an initiative of the Arctic Council was similar to the recently established Arctic Economic Council (AEC). The idea for an ‘Arctic university’ was first proposed in a session of the Arctic Council in 1997 and included in the Iqaluit Ministerial Declaration in 1998. Following its launch, UArctic became one of the earliest observer organizations. UArctic would not have been possible without the Arctic Council, nor the same conditions of the ‘Arctic Window’ that led to its creation. Following the Cold War, a new era of globalization and political mobilization towards issues of the environment, sustainable development and human rights made the Arctic states and the Arctic peoples global leaders.

We in UArctic have been closely intertwined with the history of the Arctic Council and share a common vision of the Arctic: a region of cooperation, resilience, peace, respect and diversity. In particular, both organizations are founded on the need for decision-making based on scientific  research as well as on the knowledge of northerners and northern peoples. For these reasons, it was not only logical but also an honour to accept the Norwegian Foreign Ministry’s invitation to produce a special issue of our Shared Voices magazine to celebrate twenty years of the Arctic Council.

As a northerner from the small town of Sodankylä in northern Finland, I had to leave the North to become a global citizen, but was lucky enough to return. I am happy that we now live in this Arctic era in which – thanks to our collective efforts – other northerners will be able to stay in the North and still be fully engaged internationally. The Arctic Council is a symbol of this change, and we look forward to celebrating another twenty years of its success.

Table of Contents

  1. 20 Years of Peaceful Cooperation

    By Børge Brende

  2. Celebrating 20 Years of the Arctic Council

    By David Balton

  3. International Cooperation for Arctic Prosperity

    By Sergey Lavrov

  4. Minister Greetings: Finland

    By Timo Soini

  5. Minister Greetings: Iceland

    By Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson

  6. Setting the Stage for Arctic Cooperation

    By Eirik Sivertsen

  7. It All Started in Rovaniemi

    By Markku Heikkilä

  8. Interview with Mary Simon

    By Stig Brøndbo

  9. Interview with Thorvald Stoltenberg

    By Stig Brøndbo

  10. Interview with Alona Yefimenko

    By Stig Brøndbo

  11. Interview with Sheila Watt-Cloutier

    By Stig Brøndbo

  12. The Role of the Working Groups in the Work of the Arctic Council

    By David Stone and Lars-Otto Reiersen

  13. Science to Policy: Arctic Biodiversity Assessment

    By Tom Barry and Courtney Price

  14. The Arctic Council: A Model for Cooperation

    By Timo Koivurova

  15. The Arctic Council: A Victory for Soft Law & Soft Security

    By Heather Exner-Pirot

  16. The Arctic Council: Maintaining Peace Through Cooperation

    By Michael Byers

  17. Arctic Human Development

    By Joan Nymand Larsen and Gail Fondahl

  18. Towards Revival of Arctic Cooperation

    By Olli Rehn

  19. The Arctic Economic Council: Connecting with the Business Community

    By Tara Sweeney

  20. Love & Peace

    By Else Berit Eikeland and Gunn-Britt Retter

  21. Working Inside the Arctic Council: Arctic Change and World Reindeer Herders

    By Mikhail Pogodaev and Anders Oskal

  22. Observer States in the Arctic Council: A Way Forward to Better Cooperation

    By Justin Kim

  23. The Arctic: A Place for the Miraculous

    By Chen Yitong

  24. The Arctic Council Adapting to the Future

    By Arild Moe, Svein Vigeland Rottem and Olav Schram Stokke

  25. The Way Forward for the Arctic Council

    By Oran R. Young

  26. Student Profiles

    By students from Arctic states

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