Dalee Sambo Dorough, PhDAlaska, USA

The Rights, Interests and Role of the

Arctic Council

Permanent Participants

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Indigenous peoples

Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are

those which, having a historical continuity with

pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that

developed on their territories, consider

themselves distinct from other sectors of the

societies now prevailing on those territories, or

parts of them. They form at present non-dominant

sectors of society and are determined to

preserve, develop and transmit to future

generations their ancestral territories, and their

ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued

existence as peoples, in accordance with their

own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal

system.

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“Our language contains the memory of four thousand years of

human survival through the conservation and good managing of

our Arctic wealth.

Ours is the language of the very environment that challenges the

environmental safety of existing offshore technology.

Our language contains the intricate knowledge of the ice that

we have seen no others demonstrate. Without our central

involvement, there can be no safe and responsible Arctic

resource development.”

Eben Hopson, 1977

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“We Inupiat live under four of the five flags of the

Arctic coast. One of those four flags is badly missed

here today...it is generally agreed that we enjoy

certain aboriginal legal rights as indigenous people of

the Arctic. It is important that our governments agree

about the status of these rights if they are to be

uniformly respected.”

Eben Hopson, 1977

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http://www.makivik.org/nunavik-maps/

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Inuit Circumpolar

Conference

June 1977, Barrow, Alaska

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UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

September 13, 2007 -- United Nations General Assembly

--affirming the right to self-determination

--affirming rights to lands, territories and resources

--affirming the right to free, prior and informed consent

--affirming the right to participation in decision-making

--protection from destruction of their culture

--right to security, including food security, cultural security

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ANCSA of 1971

JBNQA of 1975

Inuvialuit Final Agreement of 1984

Nunavut of 1999

Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement of

2004 including 12-mile territorial sea

Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution

Greenland Government, originally

initiated as home rule government in 1979

Imperative that states uphold their

solemn obligations under these

agreements

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International Law Association

Committee on Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Committee on Implementation of the

UN Declaration

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Ottawa Declaration

adopted in 1996

by eight Arctic nation-states

“Out of a total of 4 million inhabitants of the Arctic,

approximately 500,000 belong to indigenous peoples.

Indigenous peoples’ organizations have been granted

Permanent Participants status in the Arctic Council. The Permanent Participants have full consultation rights in

connection with the Council’s negotiations and decisions.

The Permanent Participants represent a unique feature of

the Arctic Council, and they make valuable contributions

to its activities in all areas.” http://www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/about-us/permanent-participants

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Permanent Participants of the ARCTIC COUNCIL:

Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC)

Aleut International Association (AIA)

Gwich'in Council International (GGI)

Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC)

Russian Arctic Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON)

Saami Council (SC)

institutional administration supported by an

Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat

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Recommendation II[C] in the AMSA Report states:

“That the Arctic states should identify areas of

heightened ecological and cultural significance

in light of changing climate conditions and

increasing multiple marine use and where

appropriate, should encourage implementation

of measures to protect these areas from the

impacts of Arctic marine shipping, in coordination

with all stakeholders and consistent with

international law."

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II(G). Addressing Impacts on Marine Mammals

“That the Arctic states decide to engage with relevant international organizations to further assess the effects on marine mammals due to ship noise, disturbance and strikes in Arctic waters; and consider, where needed, to work with the IMO in developing and implementing mitigation strategies.”

IWC In March, 2014, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) held a “Workshop on Impacts of Increased Marine Activities on Cetaceans in the Arctic”. This workshop focused on the increasing shipping and oil and gas activities. The workshop recommendations were endorsed by the Commission at its September 2014 meeting. Priority recommendations outlined in the workshop report include:

Having a standing IWC agenda item on the Arctic;

Increased co-operation with the Arctic Council by the Secretariat, starting in May 2015;

Increased co-operation with the IMO with respect to mitigation measures for threats to cetaceans and increased awareness of the issue of ship strikes and this importance of the IWC global ship strikes database;

Increased co-operation with stakeholders; and

Requesting the Scientific Committee to undertake a number of actions related to Arctic research.

SOURCE: https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/415

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Arctic Ocean Safety, Security & Stewardship

US Chairmanship of the ARCTIC COUNCIL

Arctic Marine Protected Areas

Arctic Marine Cooperation

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Impacts of Climate Change

--changing ice conditions and disappearance of

sea ice

--coastal erosion

--dramatic weather changes

--greater risk in unknown and fast changing

conditions

--reduced biodiversity and invasion of species

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An abandoned house at the west end of Shishmaref, Alaska, sits on the

beach after sliding off during a fall 2005 storm, December 2006. By

Cathleen Kelly and Hannah Flesch | Monday, August 24, 2015, Center for

American Progress, Source: AP/Diana Haecker

Kunuk’s campMay, 1987waiting for a whale.Photo by Bill Hess

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Visible satellite image captured Typhoon Nuri as it churned over the West Pacific on Nov. 5, 2014. (Satellite Image/NASA)

http://m.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/monster-storm-to-pound-bering/36927708#.Vj6du8evEyE.facebook

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Impacts of Arctic Shipping

--changing ice conditions due to fracturing of sea ice

--coastal erosion generated by increased waves

--vessel noise, disruption and speeds

--disruption of marine mammal habitat and migration routes

--invasion of species and reduced biodiversity

--increased marine traffic, e.g. cruise ships

--increased potential for contamination due to waste, ballast water, POLs

--vessel collisions and accidents that communities are unprepared for

--increased potential for major oil spills and similar disasters

--increased militarization

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Grounded Russian oil tanker leaks into North PacificBy Emily Russell, KNOM - Nome | December 2, 2015

http://www.alaskapublic.org/2015/12/02/grounded-russian-oil-tanker-leaks-into-bering-strait/

A Russian tanker carrying 200,000 gallons of oil ran aground off an island in the North Pacific over

the weekend. As it continues to leak, it resurrects a debate on how safety can be improved in a

region where a major wildlife corridor overlaps with a busy shipping through-point. The tanker

struck a reef off the island of Sakhalin during a storm, according to The Siberian Times.

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New Trans-Arctic shipping routes navigable by midcenturyLaurence C. Smith1 and Scott R. Stephenson

Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095Edited by Ellen S. Mosley-Thompson, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, and

approved January 25, 2013 (received for review August 21, 2012)http://www.pnas.org/content/110/13/E1191.full.pdf

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The community and interrelationship of the interests of our entire world is felt in the northern part of the globe, in the Arctic, perhaps more than anywhere else. For the Arctic and the North Atlantic are not just the "weather kitchen", the point where cyclones and anticyclones are born to influence the climate in Europe, the USA and Canada, and even in South Asia and Africa.

One can feel here freezing breath of the "Arctic strategy" of the Pentagon. An immense potential of nuclear destruction concentrated aboard submarines and surface ships affects the political climate of the entire world and can be detonated by an accidental political-military conflict in any other region of the world.

Mikhail Gorbachev, 1987

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http://qz.com/376743/how-norway-lost-control-of-its-own-secret-500-million-arctic-

navy-base/

AP: Brennan Linsley

How Norway lost control of its own secret $500 million Arctic naval base

DNB Naeringsmegling AS

http://qz.com/376743/how-norway-lost-control-of-its-own-secret-500-million-

arctic-navy-base/

Russia’s Arctic Militarization Disturbing US Lawmakers Say, March 12, 2015http://defensetech.org/2015/03/12/russias-arctic-militarization-disturbing-us-lawmakers-say/

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food security

cultural security

environmental security

powerful economic forces

industrial activities

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CONCLUSION

Because of dramatic changes spurred by climate

change and increased Arctic shipping activity, there

is a greater urgency to respect and recognize the

human rights of Arctic Indigenous peoples and to

implement the UN Declaration standards and other

international human rights instruments.

And, the direct participation of Arctic Indigenous

peoples must be respected and recognized. In this

way, Arctic-rim states and others will help to ensure a

sustainable future for Arctic Indigenous peoples and

all others.

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Quyanaq

Thank you

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