EU in the Arctic: Bridging knowledge into action

By Daria Goncearova 

The Arctic is rarely in the headlines of the world press, nor is it a top priority for European policy. However, the importance of the Arctic for our well-being, safety and cultural diversity can be hardly overestimated.  A high-level seminar, 'The EU in the Arctic, the Arctic in the EU', held in Brussels on 11 September focused on ways to raise public awareness about the region and looked into the results achieved within the EU-funded project Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of development of the Arctic. 

As Finland is one of the most active member states in Arctic issues, it was Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Erkki Tuomioja who opened the policy session of the seminar. He praised the EU's participation in the Arctic Council with its observer status (1) and the work of the EU European Arctic Information Centre in the Finnish town of Rovaniemi.  The EU aims to be on the front line when it comes to fostering sustainable Arctic development, offering €150 million of funds through FP7 (2) for research and innovation in the region. The priority areas are enhancing knowledge, growing responsibility and promoting engagement of all actors.

The 2012 Joint Communication Developing a EU Policy towards the Arctic Region also places special emphasis on the indigenous communities, pointing at the utmost importance to preserve their traditional livehoods and to help them make their culture and entrepreneurship sustainable.  “Out of a total of 4 million inhabitants of the Arctic, approximately 500,000 belong to indigenous peoples. They are caught between a misty past, an unsure present and a challenging future,” said Lars Anders Baer, Senior member of the Working Group of Indigenous Peoples in the Barents Euro-Arctic Council. The danger of irresponsible industrial extraction of oil, minerals and precious metals is growing as the ice melts, exposing Arctic treasures.  Short-life carbon pollutants accelerate climate change.

Since most of them come from outside the Arctic, a broader international cooperation is necessary to include also the countries outside the region. To understand the importance of environmental protection in the North, it is enough to remember that an oil spill in the tropics takes months or years to clean, whereas the consequences of an eventual spill in the Arctic would take decades to eliminate.  The EU policy for the Arctic is oftentimes obscured by the internal institutional complexities. The Arctic Forum in the European Parliament discusses Arctic issues on a regular basis. A group of MEPs present at the panel wished for a better coordination of the Arctic issue inside the new European Commission after its restructuring.

“We all know,” said MEP Liisa Jaakonsari, “that there is no number to call the European Commission to discuss the Arctic issues. We hope that there will be one commissioner and one desk designated to deal with the Arctic.”

Background

The 'Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of development of the Arctic Project' is funded by the EU. By combining the different viewpoints of a wide variety of Arctic stakeholders, the project has helped to clarify some of the most important Arctic development trends. The aim of the project was to establish dialogue and a true application of information and knowledge for sustainable development in the Arctic. This is achieved by identifying and accumulating relevant high-quality scientific information and data in applicable formats, bridging Arctic knowledge into action.

(1)   The Ottawa Declaration of 1996 formally established the Arctic Council as a high-level intergovernmental forum to provide a means for promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, with the involvement of the Arctic Indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic. Arctic Council Member States are Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States of America.

(2)   EU seventh framework programme for research and technological development - FP7 (2007-2013)

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