Introduction

In September 2006, a seminar on Multilateral Environmental Agreements and Their Relevance to the Arctic was organized by UNEP/GRID-Arendal and the Standing Committee for Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region (SCPAR), and co- sponsored by the Nordic Council of Ministers. This seminar built on the 7th Conference of the Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region in August 2006, at which there was a focus on the need for innovation in Arctic governance, including the possibilities and limitations of a binding legal regime for the Arctic. The objective of the Arendal Seminar was to identify gaps, challenges, and steps that could be taken to make the global multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) more relevant to the Arctic and more useful in ensuring sound environmental governance and sustainable development.

The outcome was a set of recommendations that was submitted to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the SCPAR, the Arctic Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the governing bodies and secretariats of MEAs, and distributed widely to Arctic stakeholders.

Since the Arendal Seminar, there has been much discussion about the future and form of Arctic governance*

. This new

The overall recommendation of the Arendal Seminar:

To support and cooperate on an audit to assess the effectiveness and relevance of MEAs in the Arctic and to examine the need and options for improving the existing regime, as well as the need and options for developing an Arctic Treaty or Arctic Framework Convention.

10 PROTECTING ARCTIC BIODIVERSITY

interest in how the Arctic is governed is being driven by the effects of climate change on multi-year sea ice cover, the possible opening of new sea routes, the potential for development of Arctic natural resources, and the effects these changes could have on the region’s biodiversity.

The questions raised by changes in habitat, species migration, alterations in plant distribution and the effects on human beings and their reliance on Arctic ecosystems are complex and are currently, a focus of the International Year of Biodiversity. While the Arendal Seminar raised many questions about the role of MEAs, there are new concerns and new questions that need to be answered if we are going to respond to the intricacies of rapid and unprecedented changes in the Arctic.

For this reason, it is useful to look at what has changed since the 2006 Arendal Seminar on MEAs, particularly with regard to advances in science regarding the state of Arctic biodiversity, the relevance of existing MEAs and their effectiveness and limitations. A key issue is the fact that the imminent threats to Arctic ecosystems are not coming only from activities or over-use in the Arctic but also from fundamental changes in ecosystems driven by global processes and activities in non- Arctic regions.

It is a daunting task to attempt to examine all of the MEAs that have a role in protecting and/or managing Arctic biodiversity. In preparation for the Arendal Seminar in 2006, summaries

* Examples include the Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, the UN Treaty Event 2008, the Arctic Governance Project (www.arcticgovernance. org), the Aspen Dialogue and Commission on Arctic Climate Change, the European Parliament resolution of 9 October 2008 on Arctic governance, and WWF’s work on reforming the marine Arctic governance.