International Cooperation in the Arctic

By

 The Arctic legal regime consists of a series of “soft law” agreements, which started with the 1991 Declaration on Protection of the Arctic Environment and the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS). The AEPS was absorbed into the work of the Arctic Council, created in 1996. It remains a valid Strategy for Working Groups of the Arctic Council. The 1998 Regional Programme of Action for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities and the 2000 Arctic Council Action Plan to Eliminate Pollution of the Arctic are the most recent examples of soft law environmental agreements in the region. 

The Arctic Council is a high level intergovernmental body set up in 1996 by the Ottawa declaration to promote cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States together with the indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants. The Council has the eight circumpolar countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark (Greenland and Faroe Islands), Canada, US and Russia) as member states and is mandated to protect the Arctic environment and promote the economies and social and cultural well-being of the indigenous peoples whose organizations are permanent participants in the council. Observer status in the Arctic Council is open to Non-governmental organizations, Non-littoral states as well as to Intergovernmental and Inter-Parliamentary organizations. With 6 new countries inducted as observers in May 2013 the Arctic Council currently has 12 observers.

The Council members meet biannually and the Chairmanship if the Arctic Council rotates every two years. There are six working groups a) Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP); Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP); (c) Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF);(d) Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR); (e)Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME); and (f) Sustainable Development Working Group(SDWG). On the agenda of the Arctic Council are issues relating to shipping regulations, maritime boundaries, search and rescue responsibilities and to devise strategies to mitigate the adversarial impact of the melting of Arctic ice cap.

https://mea.gov.in/in-focus-article.htm?21812/India+and+the+Arctic

https://www.arctic-council.org/about/

https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/EPLP-044.pdf

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pm-narendra-modi-to-strengthen-india-russia-partnership-with-on-arctic-subjects/article65861265.ece

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Russian parliament passed a bill to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

By
Relevance:  Russia revokes ratification of nuclear test ban treaty (CTBT) - ICAN But it affirmed that it will  retain its cooperation with the treaty’s verification system and implementing organisation.  Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which opened for signature in 1996, was intended to prohibit all nuclear weapon test explosions. Over 2,000 nuclear tests occurred between 1945 and 1996: the United States (1,000+), the Soviet Union (700+), France (200+), the United Kingdom and China (45 each). As at January 2013, 183 countries had signed the Treaty, of which 158 have also ratified it, including three of the nuclear weapon states (France, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom). However, 44 specific nuclear technology holder countries must sign and ratify before the CTBT can enter into force. Of these, eight are still missing: China, Egypt, India , Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the US. India , North Korea and Pakista...
Read more

Interstellar space and Interstellar Probes ( Voyager and New Horizons Missions )

By
Interstellar Space: Interstellar space is often called the space between the stars, but more specifically, it’s the region between our Sun’s heliosphere and the astrospheres of other stars. Our heliosphere is a vast bubble of plasma – a gas of charged particles – that spews out of the Sun. This outflow is known as the solar wind. The bubble surrounds the Sun and stretches beyond the planets. Both Voyager spacecraft had to travel more than 11 billion miles (17 billion kilometers) from the Sun in order to cross the edge of the heliosphere. This bubble is moving through interstellar space as the Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy. As our heliosphere plows through space, it creates a bow wave, like the wave formed by the bow of a ship. Kuiper Belt &  Oort Cloud: The Kuiper Belt is a doughnut-shaped ring of icy objects around the Sun, extending just beyond the orbit of Neptune from about 30 to 55 AU. Similar to the asteroid belt, the Kuiper Belt is a region of leftovers f...
Read more

ISRO developing semi-cryogenic engine working on LOX Kerosene propellant

By
ISRO is developing a 2000 kN thrust semi-cryogenic engine working on an LOX Kerosene propellant combination for enhancing the payload capability of LVM3 and for future launch vehicles. Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is the lead centre for the development of semi-cryogenic propulsion systems with the support of other launch vehicle centres of ISRO. The assembly and testing of the propulsion modules were done at the ISRO propulsion complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri. As part of the engine development, a pre-burner ignition test article, which is a full complement of the engine power head system excluding the turbopumps is realized. The first ignition trial was conducted successfully on May 2, 2024, at semi cryo integrated engine test facility (SIET) at IPRC, Mahendragiri, which was dedicated to the nation recently by the honorable Prime Minister of India. Smooth and sustained ignition of the preburner is demonstrated which is vital for the starting of the semi-cryogenic engine. Semi-c...
Read more