The Arctic nations’ foreign ministers, and leaders of the world’s six Arctic Indigenous organizations, put on a united front at the 2019 Arctic Council ministerial in Rovaniemi, Finland despite the U.S. refusal to sign on to a final declaration that included climate language. All eyes are now on the 2021 ministerial where Iceland will hand over chairmanship of the Arctic Council to Russia. (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva/ AP)
The last quarter of 2020 has witnessed a flurry of activity in the area of Arctic governance and cooperation, including the recent publication of revised regional white papers by both Norway [
in Norwegian] and Sweden, (with an updated Arctic policy from Denmark soon to follow). As well, it was announced this week that the Arctic Economic Council (AEC), based in Tromsø, would be appointing Mads Qvist Frederiksen, formerly of the Confederation of Danish Industry, as its new director.