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10th Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region Akureyri 5-7 September 2012
Final draft CONFERENCE STATEMENT
10th Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region Akureyri 5-7 September 2012
Final Draft CONFERENCE STATEMENT We, the elected representatives of Canada, Denmark/Greenland, the European Parliament, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States of America; In collaboration with the indigenous peoples of the Arctic; Meeting to discuss Arctic governance, responsible economic development in the Arctic and human development in the Arctic; Considering the rapid change now occurring in the Arctic driven by the forces of climate change and globalization resulting in closer economic and geopolitical links; Ask the governments in the Arctic Region, the Arctic Council and the institutions of the European Union, where appropriate: Regarding Arctic Governance and the Arctic Council to 1.Initiate discussions toward developing the Arctic Council into a formal international organization by adopting an exclusive treaty among the eight Arctic states to give themselves more binding powers. 2.Hold annual Arctic Council ministerial meetings, as well as regular meetings between ministers responsible for special sectors important to Arctic cooperation, such as research and education and environmental issues. 3.Establish the permanent secretariat of the Arctic Council with personnel reflecting the member states, including indigenous communities. 4.Establish an adequate and stable budget to support the work of the Arctic Council. 5.Create a vision for the Arctic on how the Arctic nations can prepare for new opportunities and challenges as a result of a changing Arctic and, as part of this process, hold an Arctic Summit involving heads of state and government of the Arctic Council member states, as well as the heads of the Permanent Participants. 6.Encourage Canada and the US to identify joint priorities for their consecutive chairmanships of the Arctic Council. 7.Secure the role and participation of the Permanent Participants and provide mechanisms to increase their financial and human resources to participate fully in all the activities of the Arctic Council. 8.Explore new ways to include the views of the Permanent Participants in future legal agreements between the Arctic nations. 9.Ensure an open and consultative process by including the Arctic communities, permanent participants, scientists, the business community and others, in the development of a visionary Kiruna statement to be adopted at the Ministerial Meeting in May 2013. 10. Explore new areas for legally binding agreements between the Arctic countries in possible areas such as research, education, tourism and aspects of environmental protection. When appropriate, the agreements may open to interested parties. 11. Produce good practice examples of environmental action and governance that other parts of the world can replicate and learn from. 12. Identify and agree on environmental indicators that can be used to tackle accelerated change in the Arctic and can also feed into the process of developing global sustainable development goals (SDGs). 13. Encourage a close collaboration between the Arctic Council and the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) in all areas of common interest and concern. 14. Agree on observer status of interested parties to secure the Arctic Council as the primary forum for Arctic cooperation. Regarding Economic Opportunities in the Arctic to 15. Recognize ecosystems and science as fundamental, principle considerations in Arctic resource management. 16. Ensure that gender based analyses are used in the development, implementation and assessment of all Arctic policies. 17. Ask the Arctic Council member states to intensify their cooperation in the International Maritime Organization in order to speed up the work on a mandatory Polar Code for shipping, and intensify their cooperation on hydrographic data collection. 18. Efficiently implement the agreement on search and rescue cooperation in the Arctic and, in this respect, also conduct joint search and rescue exercises in cooperation with those countries whose vessels cross Arctic routes. 19. Increase sub-regional cooperation and coordination in the development of new transport strategies, and give the Arctic a prominent role in the implementation of the Northern Dimension Partnership on Logistics and Transportation. 20. Establish an Arctic Chamber of Commerce or Economic Forum that includes, amongst others, local communities and indigenous peoples of the Arctic. 21. Support capacity building, particularly through education, in order that local communities will benefit more from economic development. 22. Support cross-border and trans-border economic and human cooperation in the Arctic Region, and consider how to strengthen the possibilities for travelling east-west and how to develop infrastructure for data-communications and satellite surveillance of cruise ships and other vessels in the Arctic. 23. Stimulate environmental innovation in leading sectors and focus on producing examples of good practices. 24. Develop overall strategies for assessing environmental, social and cultural consequences when exploiting natural resources in the Arctic, to ensure that any such exploitation is based on principles of sustainability. 25. Include strategies for mitigative action and adaptation to climate change as well as environmental effects in all analyses of economic development in the North. 26. Support continued close cooperation between the research community and other Arctic stakeholders. 27. Identify particularly vulnerable Arctic areas that require special management to secure biodiversity. 28. Prevent oil spills and finalize the oil spill preparedness and response agreement between the Arctic states. 29. Develop renewable energy suitable for the Arctic region and develop leading technologies in terms of society and environment. 30. Initiate joint research on challenges related to oil drilling and transportation of oil and other hazardous goods in Arctic waters in order to improve capacity in the event of oil spills and other environmental accidents. Regarding Enhancing Human Development in the Arctic to 31. Develop the Arctic region with the human dimension in focus and with a human rights approach. 32. Analyze the knowledge gaps in Arctic social sciences and research, and enhance cross-border knowledge sharing and building. 33. Consider the impacts of bans of products of some living resources on indigenous Arctic communities. 34. Encourage the European Union to speed up its work on the creation of a European Arctic Information Centre as a network with a hub at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland, Finland, cooperating with relevant research institutions. 35. Strengthen and expand mobility and exchange programs involving students in the Arctic. 36. Establish an Arctic Council framework mentorship and mobility program, in cooperation with universities and scientific and business communities. 37. Continue the inclusion and recognition of traditional and local knowledge, and improve the interplay and complementary relationship between traditional knowledge and conventional science. 38. Strengthen the indigenous peoples´ educational institutions by building competence locally in the Arctic including their own holistic knowledge. 39. Disseminate the rich knowledge accumulated during the International Polar Year and follow up on the IPY 2012 theme “From Knowledge to Action.” 40. Anchor knowledge accumulated from Arctic research in the Arctic and secure local capacity building in education, research, policy making and local governance. 41. Support and increase the use of indigenous and community-based monitoring of living resources. 42. Continue the focus on human health and well-being, with an emphasis on mental health, prevention and food safety among Arctic peoples. 43. Continue to strength cooperation between the University of the Arctic and the indigenous peoples’ organizations. 44. Develop a more structured partnership with the University of the Arctic, the International Arctic Science Committee, International Arctic Social Sciences Association and other relevant organizations. 45. Support the second Arctic Human Development Report and the plans for an International Polar Decade initiative. Ask the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region to 46. Strengthen the dialogue with the Arctic Council in the process of drafting a statement at the next Ministerial Meeting in Kiruna 2013. 47. Start to explore the possibility of annual Conferences of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region. 48. Promote the Statement from the Tenth Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region in the further development of Arctic policy in the Arctic states and the European Union and involve all the member parliaments in this process. Furthermore the Conference 49. Acknowledges the interest and presence of parliamentary observers and representatives from governments and non-government agencies at this Conference, and recognizes their important role in relaying the messages and supporting the actions herein discussed. 50. Welcomes the forthcoming Canadian chairmanship of the Arctic Council and looks forward to continued cooperation with the Arctic Council. 51. Welcomes and accepts the kind invitation of the Parliament of Canada to host the Eleventh Conference in 2014.
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