ID:10 - Governance in the Central Arctic Ocean: from local to global

The Arctic: Regional Changes, Global Impacts

26 March 2021 | 15:30 - 17:30 GMT | Room C



Conveners:

Austin Ahmasuk | Kawerak, Inc., Nome, Alaska, USA

Liling Xu | Dept. of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

Henry Huntington | Ocean Conservancy, Eagle River, Alaska, USA


The Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) Fisheries Agreement highlighted both the need and the potential for international governance in this region. Now, commercial shipping has the potential to take transpolar routes through the CAO, in addition to the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage. Ships transiting the Arctic Ocean must also travel through the Bering Strait and the hunting and ancestral areas of local Indigenous communities. Similarly, fisheries within the EEZs of Arctic states are likely to affect fish stocks in the CAO as well as the willingness of distant-water fishing states to continue to stay out of these high seas waters. We propose a session to examine these multiple strands of governance across scales and sectors to consider (a) shared goals and principles such as ecosystem-based management, (b) the respective roles of different institutions and governments, and (c) research and action needed to work together in accordance with principles of equity and effectiveness.

26 March 2021 | 15:30 - 17:30 GMT | Room C

Time

Title

Presenting author

15:30

Introduction by the conveners

15:35

Locating China’s Arctic engagement in China’s strategic transformation to the sea and ocean

Liling Xu

15:50

Safeguarding Local Communities in the Bering Strait with Indigenous Knowledge Inclusion and Frontline Efforts

Austin Ahmasuk

16:05

The BBNJ Agreement and the Implementation of Ecosystem-Based Management in the Central Arctic Ocean

Kentaro Nishimoto