Barrow Declaration on the Occasion of the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council Barrow, Alaska, October 12-13, 2000

Ministers representing the eight Arctic States, meeting in Barrow, Alaska, United States of America for the second ministerial level meeting of the Arctic Council, Noting the commitment of the Governments of the Arctic States to environmental protection and sustainable development in the Arctic region, Acknowledging that international cooperation is fundamental to resolving important circumpolar issues, Emphasizing the essential role played by Arctic communities and Arctic indigenous inhabitants in all aspects of the future of the Arctic, Acknowledging the unique role played in the Council and all of its subsidiary bodies by the Permanent Participants, Noting with pleasure that the Arctic Council, established at Ottawa in 1996, has successfully taken on the responsibilities of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) and has also moved beyond that Strategy to consider the question of sustainable development including the implementation of new projects and programs within the Council's mandate, and that its chairmanship is about to pass to a third Arctic State, Hereby: 1.  Endorse and adopt the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Framework Document, which will form a basis for continuing cooperation on sustainable development in the Arctic, and declare that the Arctic Council will play a major role in promoting sustainable development throughout the Arctic; 2.  Reaffirm the commitment of the Arctic States to protect the Arctic environment and as a consequence endorse and adopt the Arctic Council Action Plan to Eliminate Pollution of the Arctic (ACAP), and determine that ACAP, developed under the leadership of Norway, will be a basis for developing and implementing actions under the Council's auspices with respect to pollution prevention and remediation; establish an ad hoc ACAP Steering Committee on an interim basis, for a period of two years under the chairmanship of Norway, awaiting a review of the structure of the Arctic Council organization; decide further that this Committee, which will be a subsidiary body of the Council, will provide a mechanism to supervise the implementation of ACAP, and will report to the Senior Arctic Officials (SAOs), and be composed of representatives of Arctic States and Permanent Participants, with the active involvement of the chairs of the Council's working groups and the Council's Observers; and decide further that ACAP project proposals specified in the SAO Report to Ministers on the priority issues of persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and radioactivity should commence under the supervision of the Committee and the SAOs; 3.  Endorse and adopt the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA), a joint project of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) and the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Working Group, in cooperation with the International Arctic Science Committee, and acknowledge the establishment of the ACIA Steering Committee to coordinate the ACIA, and express our appreciation to the United States for financing a substantial portion of the ACIA Secretariat; request the ACIA to evaluate and synthesize knowledge on climate variability and change and increased ultraviolet radiation, and support policy-making processes and the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; further request that the assessment address environmental, human health, social, cultural and economic impacts and consequences, including policy recommendations; and approve the goals and objectives contained in the ACIA Implementation Plan and request that the AMAP and CAFF Working Groups, in consultation with the Sustainable Development Working Group, promote the availability of the necessary social and economic expertise to complete the assessment; 4.  Decide that the Arctic States will coordinate closely in international fora on environmental and sustainable development matters of importance to the Arctic. 5.  Welcome the SAO Report to the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council and adopt the recommendations contained in that Report; 6.  Note with satisfaction the results achieved by the Sustainable Development Working Group established at the last Ministerial Meeting, including the Arctic Children and Youth initiative, the Arctic Telemedicine and cultural and eco-tourism projects, and the coastal fisheries project under the Council's Sustainable Development Program, and endorse the recommendations contained in the SAO Report to Ministers with respect to the work of the Sustainable Development Working Group; welcome and approve new proposals to conduct a Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic, to develop an International Circumpolar Surveillance system for infectious diseases, to initiate projects on sustainable reindeer husbandry and sustainable development in northern timberline forests; request that the Sustainable Development Working Group facilitate completion of work on these proposals, propose priority areas in the further development of the Sustainable Development Program, and review additional proposals for activities identified in the SAO Report to Ministers and prepare them for approval by Ministers in 2002; and request that the Sustainable Development Working Group pay particular attention to proposals from the Permanent Participants directed at improving human health in indigenous communities; 7.  Welcome the opportunity presented by the Rio+10 process to review the work of the Arctic Council with a view to bringing Arctic issues to the attention of the global community through the preparatory processes associated with the ten year review of Agenda 21; 8.  Note with appreciation the work done by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) Working Group and the wide distribution and recognition being given to the AMAP Assessment Report, thank AMAP for its report to Ministers and for its interim reports, endorse AMAP's future activities as outlined in the SAO Report to Ministers, and request that AMAP prepare updated assessments on individual topics of high importance over the next several years; welcome the AMAP report on Phase I of the "Multilateral Co-operative Project for Phase-Out of PCB Use, and Management of PCB-Contaminated Waste in the Russian Federation," endorse the plan for Phase II, and request AMAP to coordinate implementation of the Phase II plan; and acknowledge approval for funding by the Global Environment Facility of the RAIPON/AMAP project "Persistent Toxic Substances (PTS), Food Security and Indigenous Peoples of the Russian North"; 9.  Receive with appreciation reports from the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Working Group on biodiversity monitoring, legal instruments for marine protection, circumpolar marine conservation, protected area needs in the Russian Arctic, rare endemic vascular plants, seabird harvest, and seabird bycatch, endorse CAFF's future activities as outlined in the SAO Report to Ministers, and welcome the Global Environment Facility's support to Russia, CAFF and the United Nations Environment Program in developing a project using an integrated ecosystem approach to enhance biodiversity conservation in the Russian Arctic; receive with appreciation the booklet "Arctic Flora and Fauna: Biodiversity, Status and Conservation" and look forward to the publication of the Overview Report on Arctic Conservation Issues; and acknowledge the establishment of circumpolar monitoring networks for key elements of Arctic biodiversity, encourage the efforts of CAFF and AMAP towards integrating their monitoring initiatives, and encourage the evaluation of the conservation value of the sacred sites of indigenous inhabitants as a component of the Circumpolar Protected Areas Network; 10.  Note with appreciation the work done by the Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR) Working Group on finalizing its "Analysis of Agreements and Arrangements," endorse EPPR's future activities as outlined in the SAO Report to Ministers, and further endorse the main conclusion of the Analysis of Agreements and Arrangements conducted by EPPR, that international conventions and instruments currently in force, adopted or still under preparation appear to cover the present needs for Arctic cooperation in the field of prevention of, preparedness for and response to environmental emergencies on land or sea; look forward to finalization of the Circumpolar Map of Resources at Risk from Oil Spills in the Arctic by the next Ministerial Meeting in 2002, as an important tool to facilitate prioritizing prompt responses when biological resources are jeopardized by an oil spill; and encourage the Working Group to continue with ongoing activities initiated under EPPR's Strategic Plan of Action; 11.  Note with appreciation the work done by the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group on implementation of the Regional Programme of Action (RPA), offshore oil and gas, shipping and review of international conventions and agreements, endorse PAME's future activities as outlined in SAO Report to Ministers, and recognize that the RPA should be used as a management framework for improved working group collaboration related to the protection of the Arctic marine and coastal environment and that RPA activities include impacts on the coastal zone, which should be more fully addressed; recognize the need for the RPA and ACAP to develop complementary activities; welcome the planned Partnership Conference concerning implementation of the Russian National Program of Action (NPA Arctic) and the RPA; and take note of the work being done in the International Maritime Organization (IMO) with respect to the IMO Guidelines for Ships Operating in Arctic Ice-Covered Waters, welcome further cooperation on those Guidelines, and welcome the snap shot analysis of maritime activities in the Arctic prepared by Norway for PAME as a useful contribution for determining what, if any, additional Arctic shipping measures are required; 12.  Note with appreciation the coordination meetings among chairs of the Council's subsidiary bodies and secretariats and encourage their continuation; 13.  Note with concern that releases of mercury have harmful effects on human health and may damage ecosystems of environmental and economic importance, including in the Arctic, and call upon the United Nations Environment Program to initiate a global assessment of mercury that could form the basis for appropriate international action in which the Arctic States would participate actively; 14.  Note with concern how global emissions of persistent organic pollutants have harmful effects on the Arctic environment, and encourage those countries, and in particular Arctic States, which have not yet ratified the UN ECE Protocols on heavy metals and on persistent organic pollutants to take all appropriate steps to become parties to the two protocols; 15.  Declare that completion and early ratification of a global convention on persistent organic pollutants is an objective of great importance to all Arctic States, and decide to strengthen efforts to finalize a comprehensive and verifiable convention at the last session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee scheduled for South Africa in December 2000; 16.  Call on the Arctic States to accede to, ratify and implement relevant existing agreements designed to protect and restore the Arctic environment, and to identify gaps where new agreements may be needed; 17.  Encourage actions to reduce the risks of releases of radioactivity to the Arctic, and further encourage non-Arctic States to continue with their plans for substantially reducing releases of radioactivity from reprocessing facilities; 18.  Welcome the introduction of a capacity building focus to the work and activities of the Council, and further welcome Canada's offer to host a workshop on capacity building during the period 2000 to 2002 to explore practical ways to implement this focus; 19.  Take note that as the Arctic Council has evolved and taken over the structures established under AEPS, some overlap of functions has occurred among the new and existing institutional structures of the Council, and request that the SAOs, with assistance from the chairs of the Arctic Council subsidiary bodies, consider and recommend as appropriate ways to improve how work is structured in the Arctic Council and present a report at the next Ministerial Meeting; 20.  Declare their strong support for achieving reliable funding for all Arctic Council activities and encourage the Governments of the Arctic States and the Permanent Participants to work with institutions and foundations supporting environmental protection and sustainable development in the Arctic, such as the international financial institutions, the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Foundation; 21.  Welcome the results of the workshops arranged by Norway on living marine resources, reindeer husbandry, utilization of energy and mineral resources, which could form the basis for future activities in the framework of the Sustainable Development Program; 22.  Approve the Arctic Athabaskan Council and the Gwich'in Council International as Permanent Participants in the Arctic Council and welcome those organizations to the Arctic Council; 23.  Note the financial and other requirements for participation of Permanent Participants in the work of the Council, recognize the contribution of the Indigenous Peoples' Secretariat (IPS) in that regard, and furthermore acknowledge the financial contributions of Canada, Denmark and Norway to the IPS; 24.  Welcome and approve the status of Observer for the period until the next Ministerial Meeting for France, the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Advisory Committee on the Protection of the Sea, the Association of World Reindeer Herders, the Circumpolar Conservation Union, the International Arctic Social Science Association, the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies, the International Union for Circumpolar Health, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, and the World Wide Fund for Nature, who will be Observers along with those countries and organizations listed in Annex 2 to the Rules of Procedure, and note with appreciation the valuable contributions made by Observers to the work of the Council; 25.  Note with appreciation the interest of the European Union in activities of the Arctic Council and look forward to cooperating with the European Commission on matters related to the Arctic and the European Union's Northern Dimension; 26.  Emphasize the continuing need for the Arctic Council to cooperate closely with relevant bodies such as the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Council of the Baltic Sea States and the Nordic Council of Ministers, and other appropriate fora such as the Northern Forum; 27.  Note with interest the recommendations made by participants at the Fourth Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, held August 27-29, 2000 in Rovaniemi, Finland, and encourage SAOs to consider these recommendations in the development of project proposals and future activities; 28.  Note with satisfaction the continuing development of the University of the Arctic, acknowledge Finland's continuing administrative support to the University, and encourage the Arctic States and other relevant partners to support the development of the University's core programmatic capacity; 29.  Acknowledge with appreciation the efforts of the United States of America in acting as the second chair of the Arctic Council over the past two years and extend their thanks to the United States, including the State of Alaska and the North Slope Borough, for hosting this Ministerial Meeting; 30.  Welcome and accept with appreciation the offer of Finland to chair the Arctic Council for the next two years and to host the third Ministerial Meeting of the Council in 2002. Signed by the representatives of the Arctic States in Barrow, this thirteenth day of October, 2000. For the Government of Canada: Mary Simon, Ambassador For the Government of Denmark: Jonathan Motzfeldt Premier, Greenland Home Rule For the Government of Finland: Johannes Koskinen Minister of Justice For the Government of Iceland: Siv Fridleifsdottir Minister for the Environment For the Government of Norway: Johan L. Lovald Assistant Secretary General For the Government of The Russian Federation: Yuri Tsaturov First Deputy Head Federal Service for Hydrometerology and Environmental Monitoring For the Government of Sweden: Eva Kettis, Ambassador For the Government of the United States of America: Frank E. Loy Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs [end of document] || Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs | U.S. Department of State | Disclaimers ||