The Arctic policy of Iceland refers to the foreign policy of Iceland in regard to the Arctic region.
Iceland is a member of the Arctic Council. Iceland does not agree that the Arctic five should meet separately, as they did at the Arctic Ocean Conference.
March 28, 2011, the Althing passed a resolution on Iceland's Arctic Policy including the following: Promoting and strengthening the Arctic Council; Securing Iceland as a coastal State within the Arctic; Promoting concept that the Arctic region extends both to the North Pole and to the closely connected North Atlantic area; Resolving differences in the Arctic using United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; Increasing cooperation with the Faroe Islands and Greenland to promote the interests of the three countries; Supporting the indigenous rights in the Arctic; Cooperating with other States and stakeholders on issues relating to Icelandic interests in the Arctic; Working to prevent human-induced climate change and its effects in order to improve the well-being of Arctic residents; Safeguarding broadly defined security interests through civilian means and working against all militarization of the Arctic; Increasing trade relations between Arctic States; Advancing Icelanders' knowledge of Arctic issues and promoting Iceland abroad as a venue for Arctic conferences; Increasing consultations and cooperation at the domestic level on Arctic issues. [1]
Iceland conducts various kinds of scientific research in Arctic matters. An overview of institutions working on Arctic matters can be seen on the website on the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network.
Foreign relations of Kazakhstan are primarily based on economic and political security. The Nazarbayev administration has tried to balance relations with Russia and the United States by sending petroleum and natural gas to its northern neighbor at artificially low prices while assisting the U.S. in the War on Terror. Kazakhstan is a member of the United Nations, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, North Atlantic Cooperation Council, Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and NATO's Partnership for Peace program. Kazakhstan established a customs union with Russia and Belarus, transformed into the Eurasian Economical Community then in 2015 into the Eurasian Economic Union. President Nazarbayev has prioritized economic diplomacy into Kazakhstan's foreign policy.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating the UN's environmental activities and assisting developing countries in having environmentally sound policies and practices.
The Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska, Canada, Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost containing tundra. Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places.
The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomous areas of the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and the Åland Islands. The representatives are members of parliament in their respective countries or areas and are elected by those parliaments. The Council holds ordinary sessions each year in October/November and usually one extra session per year with a specific theme. The Council's official languages are Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish, though it uses only Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish as its working languages. These three comprise the first language of around 80% of the region's population and are learned as a second or foreign language by the remaining 20%.
The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), formerly Inuit Circumpolar Conference, is a multinational non-governmental organization (NGO) and indigenous peoples' organization (IPO) representing the 180,000 Inuit, Yupik, and Chukchi peoples living in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka (Russia). ICC was ECOSOC-accredited and was granted special consultative status at the UN in 1983.
The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only legally binding international anti-corruption multilateral treaty. Negotiated by member states of the United Nations (UN) it has been adopted by the UN General Assembly in October 2003 and entered into force in December 2005. The treaty recognise the importance of both preventive and punitive measures, addresses the cross-border nature of corruption with provisions on international cooperation and on the return of the proceeds of corruption. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna serves as Secretariat for the UNCAC. UNCAC's goal is to reduce various types of corruption that can occur across country borders, such as trading in influence and abuse of power, as well as corruption in the private sector, such as embezzlement and money laundering. Another goal of the UNCAC is to strengthen international law enforcement and judicial cooperation between countries by providing effective legal mechanisms for international asset recovery.
The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. The eight countries with sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle constitute the members of the council: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. Outside these, there are some observer states.
Global commons is a term typically used to describe international, supranational, and global resource domains in which common-pool resources are found. Global commons include the earth's shared natural resources, such as the high oceans, the atmosphere and outer space and the Antarctic in particular. Cyberspace may also meet the definition of a global commons.
Maritime security is an umbrella term informed to classify issues in the maritime domain that are often related to national security, marine environment, economic development, and human security. This includes the worlds oceans but also regional seas, territorial waters, rivers and ports. The theoretical concept of maritime security has evolved from a narrow perspective of national naval power projection towards a buzzword that incorporates many interconnected sub-fields. The definition of the term maritime security varies and while no internationally agreed definition exists, the term has often been used to describe both existing, and new regional and international challenges to the maritime domain. The buzzword character enables international actors to discuss these new challenges without the need to define every potentially contested aspect of it.
The Arctic consists of land, internal waters, territorial seas, exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and international waters above the Arctic Circle. All land, internal waters, territorial seas and EEZs in the Arctic are under the jurisdiction of one of the eight Arctic coastal states: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. International law regulates this area as with other portions of Earth.
The inaugural Arctic Ocean Conference was held in Ilulissat (Greenland) on 27-29 May 2008. Five sovereign states, Canada, Kingdom of Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States, discussed key issues relating to the Arctic Ocean. The meeting was significant because of its plans for environmental regulation, maritime security, mineral exploration, polar oil oversight, and transportation. Before the conclusion of the conference, the attendees announced the Ilulissat Declaration.
Arctic cooperation and politics are partially coordinated via the Arctic Council, composed of the eight Arctic nations: the United States of America, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Denmark with Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The dominant governmental power in Arctic policy resides within the executive offices, legislative bodies, and implementing agencies of the eight Arctic nations, and to a lesser extent other nations, such as United Kingdom, Germany, European Union and China. NGOs and academia play a large part in Arctic policy. Also important are intergovernmental bodies such as the United Nations and NATO.
The Arctic policy of the United States is the foreign policy of the United States in regard to the Arctic region. In addition, the United States' domestic policy toward Alaska is part of its Arctic policy.
The 1985 Polar Sea controversy was a diplomatic event triggered by plans for the navigation of USCGC Polar Sea through the Northwest Passage from Greenland to Alaska without formal authorization from the Canadian government. It was the United States' position that the Northwest Passage was an international strait open to shipping and it sought only to notify Canada rather than ask for permission.
The Arctic policy of the European Union is the policies and strategies of the European Union regarding arctis. The latest policy is from 2016, and in July 2020 the European commission has started to work on a new Arctic policy.
The Arctic policy of Canada includes both the foreign policy of Canada in regard to the Arctic region and Canada's domestic policy towards its Arctic territories. This includes the devolution of powers to the territories. Canada's Arctic policy includes the plans and provisions of these regional governments. It encompasses the exercise of sovereignty, social and economic development, the protection of the environment, and the improving and devolving of governance.
The Arctic Policy of the Kingdom of Denmark defines the Kingdom's foreign relations and policies with other Arctic countries, and the Kingdom's Strategy for the Arctic on issues occurring within the geographic boundaries of "the Arctic" or related to the Arctic or its peoples. The Kingdom of Denmark is an Arctic nation with the importance of The unity of the Realm with Denmark in Europe and the self-governing autonomous countries - Greenland in the Arctic and the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic.
The Arctic Policy of China outlines China's approach to foreign relations with Arctic countries as well as its plans to develop infrastructure, extend military capabilities, conduct research, and excavate resources within the Arctic Circle. A major component of this plan is to build a Polar Silk Road, a network of trade routes through the Arctic to help expedite global shipping delivery.
The Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) was established in 1991 as a forum for political dialogue between parliamentarians from the Baltic Sea Region. BSPC aims at raising awareness and opinion on issues of current political interest and relevance for the Baltic Sea Region. It promotes and drives various initiatives and efforts to support a sustainable environmental, social and economic development of the Baltic Sea Region. It strives at enhancing the visibility of the Baltic Sea Region and its issues in a wider European context.
Arctic geopolitics is the area study of geopolitics on the Arctic region. The study of geopolitics deals with the "inalienable relationship between geography and politics", as it investigates the effects of the Earth's geography on politics and international relations. Arctic geopolitics focuses on the inter-state relations in the Arctic, which is the northernmost polar region. It is composed of the Arctic Ocean and its adjacent seas, and is home to around four million people. The states in or bordering the Arctic are commonly referred to as the Arctic Eight, and are the United States, Canada, Russia, Finland, the Kingdom of Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Iceland and Sweden.
