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Arctic Council

The Ottawa Declaration of 1996 formally established the Arctic Council as a high level intergovernmental forum to provide a means for promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, with the involvement of the Arctic Indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.

Arctic Council Homepage

The scientific work of the Arctic Council is carried out in six expert working groups focusing on such issues as monitoring, assessing and preventing pollution in the Arctic, climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, emergency preparedness and prevention in addition to the living conditions of the Arctic residents.

ACAP          AMAP          CAFF          EPPR          PAME          SDWG         

  • Arctic Maps and Data

    Arctic Maps and Data

  • Arctic Marine Shipping

    Arctic Marine Shipping

  • Arctic Marine Strategic Plan

    Arctic Marine Strategic Plan

  • Arctic Ocean Review Project

    Arctic Ocean Review Project

  • Ecosystem Approach

    Ecosystem Approach

  • Offshore Oil and Gas

    Offshore Oil and Gas

  • Regional Program of Action

    Regional Program of Action

Arctic Maps and Data

Arctic Maps and Data

Download shipping activities and biodiversity data, graphs and images from the ArcticData site, a repository from CAFF and PAME.





Learn more about Arctic Data.

Arctic Marine Shipping

Arctic Marine Shipping

The Arctic Marine shipping Assessment (AMSA) provides policy advice and recommendations on marine safety and marine environmental protection as it related to shipping in the Arctic marine environment. Learn more about this circumpolar shipping assessment.




Learn more about Arctic Marine Shipping.

Arctic Marine Strategic Plan

Arctic Marine Strategic Plan

The AMSP considers innovative approaches to integrated oceans management Council as a means to support effective governance for the Arctic marine environment through cooperative, coordinated and integrated approaches.




Learn more about AMSP.

Arctic Ocean Review Project

Arctic Ocean Review Project

The AOR project is led by Canada, Iceland, Norway, Russia and the United States and was agreed by the Arctic Council at its 2009 Ministerial Meeting, as a follow up to the 2004 Arctic Marine Strategic Plan.

 



Learn more about the AOR.

Ecosystem Approach

Ecosystem Approach

Increasing human activity in the Arctic Ocean and activities in new areas pose challenges to its health and warrants an ecosystem approach to integrated ocean management to maximize environmental protection and sustainable use of the marine environment.




Learn more about the Ecosystem Approach.

Offshore Oil and Gas

Offshore Oil and Gas

The Offshore Oil and Gas Guidelines are intended to be of use to the Arctic nations for offshore oil and gas activities during planning, exploration, development, production and decommissioning. Learn more about these Guidelines and other relevent oil and gas activities.




Learn more about Offshore oil and gas Guidelines.

Regional Program of Action

Regional Program of Action

The RPA is a dynamic programme of action that uses a step-wise approach for its development and implementation and is the regional extension of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA).




Learn more about RPA.

Status of implementation

Status on implementation of the AMSA 2009 Report Recommendations

The Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment Report was completed and approved by Arctic Council Ministers at their meeting in Tromsø, Norway in April 2009.




Click here to read the report

The Arctic Ocean Review PHASE I REPORT (2009-2011)

The Arctic Ocean Review PHASE I REPORT (2009-2011)

The Arctic Ocean Review has been organized as a project under the Protection of the ArcticMarine Environment (PAME) working group of the Arctic Council, reporting to the Senior Arctic Officials (SAOs) of the Arctic Council through PAME.


Click here to read the report.

Report from the PAME Workshop on Ecosystem Approach to Management

Report from the PAME Workshop on Ecosystem Approach to Management

PAME has established an expert group (EG) on the ecosystem approach to management. Aspart of the work program for this EG, a workshop was held in Tromsø 22-23 January 2011.



Click here to read the report.

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AMSA

amsa3PAME was requested to conduct a comprehensive Arctic marine shipping to follow-up to the Arctic Marine Strategic Plan which was adopted by the Arctic Council Ministers at the 4th Arctic Council meeting in November 2004.

The reason the Arctic Council called for this report is that a key finding in the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) was that “Reduced sea ice is very likely to increase marine transport and access to resources”.

This assessment is circumpolar in focus and promotes cooperation and collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders and relevant organizations and recognizes the importance of contributions from the broader maritime community.

Upcoming Events

MAY
15

15.05.2012 - 17.05.2012
CBMP Terrestrial Expert Monitoring Group workshop: Monitoring Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity

MAY
18

18.05.2012 - 19.05.2012
Terrestrial Expert Monitoring Group meeting

JUN
08

08.06.2012
World Oceans Day

JUN
11

11.06.2012
World Environment Day

JUL
06

06.07.2012 - 15.07.2012
Ramsar COP 11

SEP
06

06.09.2012 - 15.09.2012
IUCN World Conservation Congress 2012

About PAME

about-pameThe Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment Working Group (PAME) is one of six Arctic Council working groups. PAME was first established under the 1991 Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy and was continued by the 1996 Ottawa Charter that established the Arctic Council.

PAME is the focal point of the Arctic Council's activities related to the protection and sustainable use of the arctic marine environment.

It has a specific mandate to keep under review the adequacy of global and regional legal, policy and other measures, and where necessary to make recommendations for improvements that would support the Arctic Council's Arctic Marine Strategic Plan (2004).                             Learn more about PAME

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