The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental forum that addresses challenges faced by the nations and indigenous peoples of the region. There are eight members of the council — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. In March 2022, after the beginning of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, all members of the council aside from Russia announced that they would not participate in the meetings held under the Russian chairmanship, which started in 2021 and will expire this year. In late March, Senior Arctic Official of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry Morten Hoglund said that Norway was holding talks with Russia over the transfer of the Arctic Council chairmanship on May 11.
"As the Arctic faces a climate emergency that threatens the whole world, cooperation in environmental protection and joint climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts remain imperative for all involved. If this cannot be achieved at a multilateral level, then bilateral cooperation must suffice," Pavel Devyaykin, a research fellow at Stanford University, said.
Ekaterina Uryupova, a senior fellow at the Arctic Institute, noted, however, that despite the challenging times within the Arctic Council, on the bilateral level, the Arctic states still continued to cooperate in the areas of fisheries, indigenous peoples' interaction, and person-to-person scientific data exchange.
"I believe we have to work on strengthening these areas specifically. Also, there are a few bright perspectives for international cooperation in the North, such as China's support of the restoration of the Arctic Council's functions and a proposal of Norway about cooperation with Russian researchers on climate and environmental data," she said.
The experts recalled that Russia was still participating in the Arctic Council, but its isolation from Arctic science cooperation with Western institutions made it harder to understand the dramatic changes unfolding in the region.
"Russia has centuries-long expertise in studying thawing permafrost and has superior icebreaker capabilities. Effective cooperation combines the capabilities of those involved for mutual interests," Devyaykin added.
Uryupova said that basically, the suspension of interaction within the Arctic Council put international research on hold, and it definitely would leave global data collection with gaps.
"For the international scientific community, whether it is about global alterations, or about local changes, it is clear that knowledge will be lost if it is not shared and protected," she noted.
Devyaykin also stated that the Arctic's resources cannot become a reason for great-power competition or military conflict, since there is a clear legal regime for the distribution of natural resources in accordance with the exclusive economic zones and territories of the Arctic states.
The experts concluded that all Arctic states could use their diplomatic capabilities for effective cooperation in the region.