Abstract
This concluding chapter seeks to systematize the mitigative and adaptive responses to climate change considered by the different authors of this volume by posing four questions: who is charged with adaptation and mitigation, which adaptive and mitigative measures are being targeted, what are the means for adaptation and mitigation, and, finally, are the suggested actions able to support expressed aims for adaptation and mitigation? The discussion of these questions reveals the importance of the current institutional contexts in the framing of adaptation and mitigation issues. It also emphasises the importance of context and the variety of adaptive measures that are being considered, both within national and local contexts but also within the patchwork of different international regimes that touch the Arctic. The chapter concludes by canvassing recent governance developments and especially the initiative of the five coastal states (the Ilulissat Declaration) and that of the European Union. These developments have the potential to challenge existing governance structures based on the eight member states of the Arctic Council and its system of permanent representatives.
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Notes
- 1.
For instance, Viikari notes that local communities, indigenous as well as non-indigenous, should be involved in conservation of world heritage in the Arctic where links between cultural and natural heritage are strong (see Chapter 8 by Viikari, this volume).
- 2.
Yet, VanderZwaag (this volume) also takes up the suggested benefits of the treaty approach: “encouraging greater political and bureaucratic commitments; establishing firmer institutional and financial foundations; transcending the vagaries of changing governmental viewpoints and shifting personnel; giving ‘legal teeth’ to environmental principles and standards; raising the public profile of regional challenges and cooperation needs; and providing for dispute resolution mechanisms”.
- 3.
The only exception is the Nordic Council, which went further and adopted the following recommendation directed at the Nordic Council of Ministers: “The Nordic Council recommends to the Nordic Council of Ministers that in cooperation with the Arctic Council the aim is to create a legal system pertaining to the Arctic.” See Pohjoiset merialueet käsittävästä oikeustieteellisestä tutkimuksesta ja Arktista koskevasta oikeusjärjestelmästä (In English: Legal Research pertaining to the Northern marine Regions and Arctic Legal Regime) (26 April 2006 decision) A 1392/medborgar. On file with the authors.
- 4.
Passed by the Senate on 4 October 2007. The House of Representatives voted in favour of SJ Res. No. 17 in May 2008 and the President signed it on 4 June 2008.
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Keskitalo, E.C.H., Koivurova, T., Bankes, N. (2009). Conclusions on Climate Governance in the Arctic. In: Koivurova, T., Keskitalo, E., Bankes, N. (eds) Climate Governance in the Arctic. Environment & Policy, vol 50. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9542-9_17
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