The inaugural Arctic Ocean Conference was held in

Ilulissat Ilulissat, formerly Jakobshavn or Jacobshaven, is the municipal seat and largest town of the Avannaata municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With the population of 4,670 as of 2020, it is the t ...

(

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...

) on 27-29 May 2008. Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States discussed key issues relating to the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

.Office 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 The Ilulissat Declaration was brought into force on May 28, 2008 by the five coastal states of the Arctic Ocean (the United States, the Russian Federation, Canada, Norway and Denmark - also known as the Arctic five, aka the A5), following the Arc ...

. The conference was the first ever held at the ministerial level that included the five regional powers, the

Arctic five The Arctic five are the five littoral states bordering the Arctic Ocean: Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States. Competing narratives exist regarding international governance of the Arctic. There is debate over whether the princ ...

. It came at the invitation of

Per Stig Møller Per Stig Møller (, informal: Per Stig; born 27 August 1942 in Frederiksberg) is a Danish politician. He was a member of the Folketing (Danish national parliament) for the Conservative People's Party from 1984 until 2015, and was Minister for ...

, Denmark's Foreign Minister, and Hans Enoksen, Greenlands Premier in 2007 after several territorial disputes in the Arctic. States Møller, "We must continue to fulfill our obligations in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada ( Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm ( Greenland), Finland, Iceland ...

area until the UN decides who will have the right to the sea and the resources in the region. We must agree on the rules and what to do if

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

s make more shipping possible." "We need to send a common political signal to both our own populations and the rest of the world that the five coastal states will address the opportunities and challenges in a responsible manner." Ilulissat's melting

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

was an appropriate backdrop for the landmark conference. The key ministry level attendees were: * Canada:

Gary Lunn Gary Vincent Lunn (born May 8, 1957) is a retired Canadian member of Parliament for the British Columbia riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands. He served in the House of Commons from 1997 to 2011, first as a member of the Reform Party of Canada an ...

, Minister for Nature Resources of Canada * Denmark:

, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark; Hans Enoksen, Premier of Greenland * Norway:

Jonas Gahr Støre Jonas Gahr Støre (; born 25 August 1960) is a Norwegian politician who has served as the prime minister of Norway since 2021 and has been Leader of the Labour Party since 2014. He served under Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as Minister of Fo ...

, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway * Russia:

Sergey Lavrov Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and politician who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004. ...

, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Russia * United States:

John D. Negroponte John Dimitri Negroponte (; born July 21, 1939) is an American diplomat. He is currently a James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is a former J.B. and Maurice C. Sh ...

, Deputy Secretary of State

Controversy

The inclusion of some members of the

Arctic Council The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle ...

while excluding others (indigenous peoples,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

, and Sweden) from the conference caused controversy. Defending Denmark's decision to exclude certain council members, Thomas Winkler, head of Denmark's International Law Department stated, "This meeting in Ilulissat is not a competition to the Arctic Council. The issues that we're going to discuss will be issues that is the responsibility of the five coastal states of the Arctic Ocean." The reaction by Aqqaluk Lynge, a Greenlandic politician and former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, was concerned that indigenous peoples of the Arctic are being "

marginalized Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...

". "

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, ...

have their own definition of

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

."Somby

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

Photo

Enoksen's speech opening the conference

{{Russia–United States relations Climate change conferences Foreign relations of Canada Foreign relations of Denmark Foreign relations of Greenland Foreign relations of Norway Foreign relations of the United States Multilateral relations of Russia Government of the Arctic 2008 in the environment 2008 in Greenland 21st-century diplomatic conferences Diplomatic conferences in Greenland 2008 in international relations Ilulissat Denmark–United States relations Greenland–United States relations Denmark–Russia relations Greenland–Russia relations Canada–United States relations Canada–Russia relations Russia–United States relations Norway–United States relations Norway–Russia relations

Controversy

See also

Notes

References

External links