Polar Law Symposium

Upcoming Polar Law Symposium: 

The Blue Earth, from the Poles, through the Law / 14th Polar Law Symposium, 2021 - Kobe (Japan) and Online

                                                                                       

Following an entirely online 2020 symposium, Kobe PCRC will again join the Polar Law Institute (University of Akureyri, Iceland), the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law – Arctic Centre (University of Lapland, Finland), the University of the Arctic and its Arctic Law Thematic Network (Finland) to host the 14th Polar Law Symposium 2021.

 Despite the continuing uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, with the agreement of the Advisory Committee, Kobe PCRC has decided to hold the conference most likely in hybrid format. The hybrid conference will consist of a limited number of in-person live events at Kobe, Japan, and several online opportunities such as online PowerPoint presentations, online live seminars broadcast through internet, online panel discussions recorded for later on-demand viewing on a dedicated website, etc. The Symposium’s format as well as a general scheme of the conference program will be finalised in late September taking into consideration the number of abstracts received and accepted as well as the participants’ preferred manner of presentation.

The symposium will have several focused sessions to promote discussion oriented academic conference.

  • Polar governance under the Anthropocene
  • Policy-law-science nexus in the polar regions
  • The role of laws for the people in the polar regions
  • Environmental protection and sustainable development in the polar regions
  • Challenges in ocean governance for the changing poles

Kobe PCRC is looking for several fellows, with travel bursaries and/or research grants, to assist the Planning Committee both substantively and logistically in preparing, executing, and reporting on the events undertaken under the Symposium. The details are provided in the Call for Abstracts available below.

Kobe PCRC is also hosting the 2021 Biennial Conferencelink of the Standing Committee for Humanities and Social Sciences (SC-HASS) under Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) on 18-19 November 2021. SC-HASS is a community of researchers working on diverse aspects of the humanities and social sciences as they relate to Antarctica. Please do consider submitting an abstract also to the Conference as well as visiting Kobe a few days earlier if you plan to physically attend the Symposium.

More information: https://www.2021polarlawsymposium.org/


The Polar Law Symposium - History and Background


The first International Symposium, ‘Looking Beyond the International Polar Year: Emerging and Re-emerging Issues in International Law and Policy in the Polar Regions’ was held on 7-10 September 2008 at the University of Akureyri, Iceland. The Symposium was timed to coincide with the launch of the new postgraduate program in Polar Law offered by the University of Akureyri. The Polar Law Symposium is an annual event and the Symposiums proceedings have been published by the Brill publishing house in The Yearbooks of Polar Law.

The purpose of the Symposiums is to examine, in detail, the implications of the challenges faced by the Polar Regions for international law and policy and to make recommendations on appropriate actions by States, policy makers and other international actors to respond to these emerging and re-emerging challenges.

Each year the Symposium brings a great number of renowned scholars, post-doctoral and doctoral researchers from all across the world to share research-based scientific knowledge on diverse polar relevant issues. Leading experts in the field of both Polar Law and Policies are invited to give keynote lectures. The purpose of the Symposium is to examine, in detail, the implications of the challenges faced by the Polar Regions for international law and policy and to make recommendations on appropriate actions by states, policy makers and other international actors to respond to these emerging and re-emerging challenges.  

Past Polar Law Symposia: 

Polar Law Symposium 2020 - Special Online Session 

Polar Law Symposium 2019 - Hobart, Tasmania  (Australia)

Polar Law Symposium 2018 - Tromsø (Norway)

 Polar Law Symposium 2017 - Rovaniemi (Finland)

Polar Law Symposium 2016 - Akureyri and Reykjavík (Iceland) 

Polar Law Symposium 2015 - Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska (U.S.)

Polar Law Symposium 2014 - Hobart, Tasmania (Australia)

Polar Law Symposium 2013 - Akureyri and Reykjavík (Iceland) 

Polar Law Symposium 2012 - Rovaniemi (Finland) 

Polar Law Symposium 2011 - Nuuk (Greenland)

Polar Law Symposium 2010 - Akureyri (Iceland) 

Polar Law Symposium 2009 - Akureyri (Iceland) 

Polar Law Symposium 2008 - Akureyri (Iceland)