The Sixth Polar Law Symposium was held both at the University of Akureyri and with breakout sessions at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík where leading experts in the field of Polar Law and Arctic Governance were brought together. The symposium covered a wide variety of topics relating to the Arctic and Antarctic. Topics includes: Arctic Politics and Law, The Arctic Council and Arctic Governance, Management of Resources, Civil-Military Operations in the Arctic- Past, Present, Future, Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), The Implication of Private investment in the Arctic, Human Rights, Law of the Sea, Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Antarctica and Arctic Resource Development: What Practitioners and Academics can teach each other.
THE 2013 POLAR LAW SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM
OPENING SESSION (AKUREYRI)
Chair: Gudmundur Alfredsson, Professor, University of Akureyri
Timo Koivurova, Professor, University of Lapland: The Making of the Arctic HumanDevelopment Report II: the Relevance of Law in the Arctic
Michael Byers, Professor, University of British Columbia: Is International Law inthe Arctic Fundamentally Different from International Law Elsewhere?
Stewart Wheeler, Ambassador of Canada to Iceland: Canada’s Priorities and Perspectives during the Chairmanship of the Arctic Council
Dag Wernø Holter, Ambassador of Norway in Iceland: Norwegian Perspectives on the Arctic and the Arctic Council
Tomas Orri Ragnarsson, Counsellor, Arctic Affairs, Directorate for International and Security Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iceland: Icelandic Perspectives on the Arctic and the Arctic Council
Magnús Jóhannesson, Director, Arctic Council Secretariat, Tromsø: New Developments – the Arctic Council Secretariat
Anton Vasiliev, Ambassador at Large, Senior Arctic Official, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian Federation: Recent Agreements under the Auspices of the Arctic Council – a New Chapter in Polar Law
Alyson Bailes, Professor, University of Iceland: Small Nations in the Wider Arctic Space - Their Challenges, Options and Contributions
Maria Ackrén, Associate Professor in Political Science, Ilisimatusarfik - University of Greenland: Paradiplomacy in Greenland
Cécile Pelaudeix, Lecturer, Sciences Po, Lyon, and Research Associate PACTESciences Po, Grenoble: A Critical Study of Arctic Governance Analysis
Yoshinobu Takei, Research Associate at the Walther Schücking Institute for International Law, University of Kiel: The Role of the Arctic Council in the Development of International Law - Past, Present and Future
Irina Zhilina, MA-graduate in Polar Law, University of Akureyri: Early Notification of Nuclear Accidents in the Arctic: Case-Study in the Barents Sea
Bent Ole Gram Mortensen, Professor, Department of Law, University of Southern Denmark, Odense: Exploiting Hydro Power in Greenland - Climate, Security of Supply, Environmental Risks and Energy Incentive Industries
Katja Göcke, Institute for International Law and European Law, Georg-August University of Göttingen: Co-Management of Renewable Natural Resources in the Arctic Regions of North America
Antje Neumann, Researcher at University of Akureyri and PhD-Candidate at University of Tilburg: The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in the Context of Wilderness Protection and Management in the Arctic
PANEL ON CIVIL-MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE ARCTIC - PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE (AKUREYRI)
Valur Ingimundarson, Professor of Contemporary History, University of Iceland: Western Cold War: Crisis in Iceland's Relations with Britain, the United States, and NATO
Stacey Fritz, Anthropologist/Subsistence Specialist, Bureau of Land Management, Arctic Field Office, Fairbanks, Alaska: DEW Line Passage - Tracing the Legacies of Militarization in the Western Arctic
Robert Wheelersburg, Professor of International Studies, Elizabethtown College: Militarization in the Barents Region and its Effects on Indigenous and Northern Residents
Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv, Associate Professor of Political Science, Tromsö University: Security at the Poles – Civil Military Operations in the Arctic and Antarctic
Kristian Søby Kristensen, Senior Researcher in Military Studies, Copenhagen University: Integration of Indigenous Peoples in Broader Notions of State Security in the Arctic
Since military officers began exploring the Arctic during the past few centuries, States have deployed forces to establish sovereignty over the region. At the same time those military forces interacted with indigenous peoples and northern residents through such activities as relocating the Greenlandic Inuit village of Thule to creating economic development along the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line in Canada and Alaska. This session seeks to examine past and current civil-military operations to understand how existing international laws and treaties influenced their nature. With Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and the U.S. expanding military presence in the Arctic to establish sovereignty such studies could provide models for how to reduce problems like cultural imperialism, environmental damage, and dependency.
Session organized by Michael Laiho, Ph.D candidate, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland and others: Developing an International Polar Research Team as an Early Career Scientist, with the following main themes: Experiences with Research Project Developing, National and International Cooperation, Funding Research and Activities, and Challenges of Research Projects in Practice
Níels Einarsson, Director, Stefansson Arctic Institute, University of Akureyri, and Peter Th Ørebech, Law Professor, University of Tromsö: Privatizing the People's Property - Legal Problems and Social Implications of a Trend in Arctic Governance
Rutherford Hubbard, Integrity Promoting Officer, Senior Consultant, TISL: Risk Management Strategies and New Approaches to Corporate Compliance in the Arctic
Nengye Liu, Marie Curie Fellow, School of Law, University of Dundee: The European Union, China and the Governance of Arctic Shipping - A Comparative Study
Mark Stoller, PhD candidate, University of British Columbia: Energy Companies and the Development of International Cooperation in the Arctic
Michael John Laiho, Ph.D candidate, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland: In the Absence of Law: What are the Current Systems of Rules regulating Arctic Oil and Gas Exploration and How do we Stop the Impending Crises?’’
Kári á Rógvi, Member of Parliament, Faroe Islands: West-Nordic Constitutional Review
Kristin Henrard, Professor, Faculty of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam: Integration related research - title to be confirmed
Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv, Associate Professor of Political Science, Tromsö University: Oil and Gas and Human Security/Human Rights
Victoria Sweet, Executive Editor, Michigan State International Law Review, and Legal Fellow, Indigenous Law & Policy Center: Rising Waters, Rising Threats: Human Trafficking and Other Gender-Related Crimes in the Circumpolar Region of the United States and Canada
Richard Caddell, Senior Lecturer in Law, Swansea University: Regulating the Whale Wars: Freedom of Protest, Navigational Safety and the Law of the Sea in the Polar Regions
Martin Mennecke: Science or No Science - That is the Question - Australia, Japan and Whaling before the International Court of Justice
Marta Sobrido, Senior Lecturer in Public International Law and European Union Law , University of A Coruña:The Spanish Fisheries on the Arctic Waters - the Allocation of New Fishing Opportunities
Bianca Tiantian Zhang, LL.M-graduate in Polar Law, University of Akureyri: US Marine Enclosure in the Arctic and its Influence on Arctic Ocean Governance
Kamrul Hossain, Researcher, Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland: Does International Human Rights Law Effectively Guarantee the Protection of the Collective Right to Culture of Indigenous Peoples?
Leena Heinämäki, Research Fellow, Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, and Thora Martina Herrmann, Associated Professor, Département de géographie, Université de Montréal:Reclaiming the Sacred - Sacred Natural Sites of Indigenous Peoples in the Circumpolar Arctic as a Right to Cultural Integrity in Human Rights Law
Maxim Zadorin, International Law and Comparative Legal Studies Department, Law Institute, NArFU, Arkhangelsk: Limitations on Traditional Activities of Arctic Indigenous Numerically-Small Peoples in Russia
Mara Kimmel, PhD Candidate, Central European University: Land, Governance and Well-Being - An Alaskan Case Study
Tomas H. Heidar, Legal Adviser, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland: The Icelandic Continental Shelf
Larry Mayer, Director, Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, Co-Director, Joint Hydrographic Center, Professor of Earth Science and Ocean Engineering, University of New Hampshire: Mapping the Continental Shelf in the Arctic
Bjarni Már Magnússon, Expert, School of Law, Reykjavik University: Is the United States Entitled to the Continental Shelf beyond 200 Nautical Miles in the Arctic?
Erik Franckx, Professor, President of the Department of International and European Law, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law and Criminology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel: The Northern Sea Route Shipping Season 2013 - A First Assessment
Phil Steinberg, Professor of Geography, Florida State University, Professor of Political Geography, Durham University (from October 2013): Political and Legal Implications of Designating the Northwest Passage as Canadian Territorial Waters
PLENARY SESSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, INCLUDING ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND THE AARHUS CONVENTION (REYKJAVIK)
Simon Marsden, Associate Professor in Law, Law School, Flinders University, Adelaide: Developing the World Heritage Convention in the Arctic: Environmental Protection and Governance
Rachael Lorna Johnstone, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Akureyri: Invoking Responsibility for Environmental Injury in the Arctic Ocean
Sébastien Duyck, Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland:Arctic Carbon Reserves: a Duty NOT to Exploit one's Natural Resources?
Kees Bastmeijer, Professor, University of Tilburg, and Tina Tin, Independent Polar Researcher: Antarctica – A Wilderness Continent for Science: The ‘Public’s Dream’ as a Mission Impossible?
Jeffrey Smith, PhD-Candidate, Faculty of Law, McGill University: Poles Apart: The State of International Law for Antarctica
Julia Jabour, Leader, Ocean and Antarctic Governance Research Program, Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania: Report from the 36th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Brussels in May 2013 - Current and Future Issues. Announcement concerning the 7th Symposium on Polar Law inTasmania
PLENARY SESSION ON ARCTIC RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT: WHAT PRACTITIONERS AND ACADEMICS CAN TEACH EACH OTHER (REYKJAVIK)
Participants from the Arctic Energy Summit and the Symposium on Polar Law will compare their conference outcomes, including:
Niels Einarsson, Director, Stefansson Arctic Institute, Iceland
Ted Rockwell, Alaska Regional Coordinator, Business Development, Energy and Environment, Battelle Memorial Institute, Former Senior Advisor, US Environmental Protection Agency
Mikhail Babenko, Oil & Gas Officer, WWF-Global Arctic Programme
Børre Johan Paaske, DNV Maritime and Oil & Gas, Safety Advisory, Det Norske Veritas (invited)