Polar Law Symposium 2015 - Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska

ABOUT THE POLAR LAW SYMPOSIUM

The Eighth Polar Law Symposium 'The Science, Scholarship and  Practice of Polar Law: Strengthening Arctic Peoples and Places' was held both in Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska 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: Science and Law in Polar Regions, Shipping - Natural Resources, the Interplay of Law and Science in Polar Regions, International Frameworks for Polar Law, Marine management in the Arctic, Indigenous Governance - Food Security and Rights in America's Arctic,  Risk and Security in the Arctic: Local and National Perspective, Legislating Status: Protections or Pitfalls?, The Arctic as an Emerging Law Practice, Environmental and Energy Justice/Local and National Challenges to Applying Resource Norms and Integrating Multiple Perspectives into Resource Governance. The Eighth Polar Law Symposium is sponsored by University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Anchorage, UAA Justice Center, UAA Institute of Social and Economic Research, and University of Washington School of Law in cooperation with the Arctic Law Section of the Alaska Bar Association.

THE 2015 POLAR LAW SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM

Opening Reception, International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Welcome from Dr. Larry Hinzman, UAF Interim Vice Chancellor for Research, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, permafrost hydrologist, Director of the UAF International Arctic Research Center from 2007 to 2015, and a national and global leader in research collaboration in the Arctic.

Conference Overview

Address from Dr. Mike Sfraga, UAF Vice Chancellor for University and Student Advancement and Professor of Arctic Policy, geographer and a leader in UArctic Arctic Policy programs and in the US Fulbright Arctic Initiative, Fairbanks, Alaska

Betsy Baker, Vermont Law School / University of Washington School of Law (Anchorage), Mara Kimmel, Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, 'The Why of Arctic Law and Science'

Plenary Panel: Science and Law in Polar Regions

Dr. Hajo Eicken, UAF, sea ice geophysicist and IARC Interim Director

Dr. Olivia Lee, UAF and PI, North Slope Science Initiative Scenarios for North Slope Development and Science Needs

Karin Barentsen, Kaisa Consulting, formerly with Statoil-Alaska as Regulatory Compliance Manager

Becca Robbins Gisclair, JD, Ocean Conservancy Arctic Policy Manager, formerly with the Alaska Marine Conservation Council

Lunch and Keynote Address

Dr. Brendan Kelly, Executive Director of SEARCH (Study of Arctic Environmental Change) and former Assistant Director for Polar Science, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will introduce KEYNOTE: Dr. Bill Streever, BP Exploration-Alaska '"Where Biology, Physics, Industry, Law and Iñupiat Culture Meet: Alaskan Examples from the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act."'  Dr. Streever, a biologist, is BP Exploration-Alaska's Senior Environmental Studies Adviser and award-winning author of COLD: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places.

Poster Session

Posters and Discussion: Shipping, Natural Resources

Opening Remarks, Troy Bouffard, University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Management, Homeland Security and Emergency Management Program

Judy Miller, AK Response LLC; UAA DHS-Center of Excellence for Arctic Maritime Security, Anchorage, Alaska, 'The Necessity of a commercial Oil Spill Removal Organization in the Aleutians'

Aileen Nimick, Graduate Student, Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, 'Alaska Interpretation of Essential Fish Habitat Regulations in the United States'

Posters only:

Cdr. Johnny Groneng Aase, Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia / Norwegian Cyber Defence Academy, Lillehammer, Norway - Monitoring Maritime Traffic in the Polar Regions by Satellite-based Automatic Identification Systems

Antje Neumann, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of European and International Public Law, Tilburg University, Netherlands, 'Moving Wilderness Back to the Stage: The Evolution of Wilderness Protection Within the Antarctic Treaty System (in absentia)'

Breakout sessions (Three parallel sessions)

The Interplay of Law and Science in Polar Regions 

Yuanyuan Ren, Graduate Student, University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, Wisconsin, 'Toward an Arctic Order of Human Dignity: A Dual Agenda for Scientists and International Lawyers'

Akiho Shibata, Professor of International Law, Graduate School of International Studies, Kobe, Japan with Maiko Raita, Ki-ichi Kageyama, and Narimitsu Kato, 'An Agreement on Enhancing International Scientific Cooperation in the Arctic: Only for A8 countries and their scientists?'

Natalia Loukacheva, Professor, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, Canada, 'At the Intersection of Social Sciences: Understanding Arctic Sustainability through Legal Lenses'

International Frameworks for Polar Law 

Julia Jabour, Senior Lecturer in Law and Policy, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies University of Tasmania, Australia, 'Due Diligence: Flag State Responsibilities in Southern Ocean Protest Campaigns'

Simon Marsden, Professor, Flinders Law School, Adelaide, Australia, 'From the High North to the Roof of the World - Arctic Precedents for Third Pole Governance'

Scott Joblin, Graduate Student, Australian National University, Canberra, 'Antarctic Environmental Protection and the Legal Status of Hydrocarbons in the Southern Ocean Area'

Marine Management in the Arctic 

Aline St-Laurent-Guerin, MA Candidate, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia, 'Institutional Fragmentation in the Arctic: the Promise of Ecosystem-based Management for the Marine Environment'

Julie Lurman Joly, Professor, UAF, Fairbanks, Alaska, 'Opportunities For Increased Alaska Native Authority Over Marine Mammals'

Kathryn Mengerink, Environmental Law Institute, Washington, 'D.C.Advancing Arctic Co-Management Systems: Design and Implementation of Marine Mammal Co-Management in Alaska'

ANCHORAGE – University of Alaska Anchorage

Welcome from Dr. Douglas Causey, Professor and Senior Advisor to the Chancellor on Arctic Policy, University of Alaska - Anchorage

Keynote by Lisa Parker, Apache Corporation and Regent, University of Alaska System

Tribute to Walter Parker, presented by Professor Harry Bader, UAF

Plenary Luncheon Panel – Indigenous Governance, Food Security and Rights in America’s Arctic

Chair, Professor Bob Anderson, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle

Sky Starkey, Landye Bennett Blumstein LLP, Anchorage

Heather Kendall-Miller, Native American Rights Fund, Anchorage

Raychelle Aluaq Daniel, Pew Charitable Trusts, Anchorage and Seattle

Breakout Sessions (Two parallel sessions)

Risk and Security in the Arctic: Local and National Perspectives 

Harry Bader, Assoc. Prof., UAF, Polar & Environmental Security Studies; with Troy Bouffard, Instructor and Cam Carlson, Program Director, both of UAF’s Emergency Management & Homeland Security Program, School of Management, 'Three Arctics - Shared Responsibility and Many Challenges'

Matti Niemivuo, Prof. Emeritus, former Dean, University of Lapland Law School, Finland, 'Legal Regulation and the Nordic Welfare State'

Robin Bronen, UAF, Alaska Institute for Justice, Fairbanks, Alaska, 'The Human Rights of Climate-Induced Community Relocation'

Rachael Lorna Johnstone, University of Akureyri, Iceland, 'The Arctic’s “Nearest Neighbor:” The United Kingdom’s Arctic Agenda'

Legislating Status: Protections or Pitfalls? 

Øyvind Ravna, Professor, Faculty of Law, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway, 'The ILO 169 and the Securing Sámi Rights to Lands, Nature-Based Livelihood and Natural Resources. The Norwegian Experience.'

Ulrike Barten, Postdoctoral Researcher; Bent Ole Gram Mortensen, Professor, Department of Law, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, 'Denmark Indigenous or? The Status of Inuit in Greenland'

Magdalena Lickova, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Luxembourg, 'The Complexity of the Regulatory Structures Developed by the European Union in Respect of the Arctic Region'

Plenary Panel-The Arctic as an Emerging Law Practice

Bob Anderson, Professor, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle

Tina Grovier, Stoel Rives LLP, Anchorage

Phil Blumstein, Landye Bennett Blumstein, Anchorage

Matt Ganley, Bering Straits Native Corporation, Anchorage/Nome

Lunch with Keynote Speaker Hon. Mead Treadwell 

Dr. Michael Castellini, Associate Dean for the UAF Graduate School and former Dean of the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences will introduce The Honorable Mead Treadwell, PT Capital Breaking the Logjam on US Accession to the Law of the Sea Convention Currently with PT Capital, the Former Lt. Governor of Alaska and Chair of the US Arctic Research Commission discusses legislative options in the US Senate regarding the Law of the Sea Convention.

Breakout sessions (Two Parallel Sessions)

Environmental and Energy Justice/Local and National Challenges to Applying Resource Norms

Alexios Antypas, Associate Professor, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, 'Environmental Justice Network in Central Europe and its Potential Application in the Arctic'

Hari Osofsky, Professor, University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 'Possibilities for Addressing Arctic Energy Poverty Through Renewable Energy'

Kristoffer Svendsen, Researcher, K.G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway, 'The impact of Choice-of-Law Rules in Cross-Border Pollution Damage Caused by Petroleum Spills from Offshore Rigs and Installations. The Case of the Barents Sea'

Soili Nysten-Haarala, Faculty of Law, University of Lapland, Finland; Professor, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden, 'Global Standards – Local Contracting (Supply Chain control in the Barents region)'

Integrating Multiple Perspectives into Resource Governance 

Christine Hess, General Counsel and Acting Co-Science Director, Northwest Arctic Bureau, Kotzebue, Alaska; Mara Kimmel, Walter J. Hickel Professor of Strategic Development and Entrepreneurship, Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, Alaska, 'Utilizing Local Governance Structures to Integrate Western Science and Traditional Knowledge and Support Inuit Subsistence in the Northwest Arctic Borough'

Barrett Ristroph, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 'Strategies for Strengthening Alaska Native Village Roles in Natural Resource Management'

Kees Bastmeijer, Professor of Nature Conservation & Water Law, Tilburg Law School, Tilburg, Netherlands, 'Recent Developments in Land Use Rights in Greenland'

Closing Session 

Conclusions and Tribute

Betsy Baker, Professor, Vermont Law School & University of Washington School of Law

Rachael Lorna Johnstone, Professor, University of Akureyri, Iceland, Host of the Ninth Polar Law Symposium 2016

Tribute to Professor Kárí á Rogvi, University of the Faroe Islands

Mara Kimmel, Professor, Alaska Pacific University

Timo Koivurova, Professor, ULapland Faculty of Law, Rovaniemi, Finland, Founding member of the Polar Law Symposium series

 

Closing Remarks Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, Municipality of Anchorage