Final Announcement
Seminar on Multilateral Environmental Agreements and Their Relevance
to the Arctic
21-22 September 2006
Arendal, Norway
Registration Deadline: Sunday, 10 September 2006
For further information, please go to:
http://polar.grida.no/news.cfm?pressReleaseItemId=1028
A seminar on "Multilateral Environmental Agreements and Their Relevance
to the Arctic" will be held in Arendal, Norway, on 21-22 September 2006.
Rapid environmental changes are taking place in the Arctic, threatening
the livelihoods of people of the far North and endangering arctic flora
and fauna. But these changes, and those predicted for the future, will
have global effects. Sea level rise from melting ice, altered global
ocean circulation from changes in the polar seas, and changes to arctic
breeding grounds of migratory birds, fish, and marine mammals are global
issues that require global solutions. While there are several global and
regional Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) relevant to the
Arctic, none have an exclusive arctic scope.
This seminar is co-organized by United Nations Environment
Programme/GRID-Arendal and the Standing Committee for Parliamentarians
of the Arctic Region (SCPAR) and is co-sponsored by the Nordic Council
of Ministers.
The seminar builds on the 7th Conference of the Parliamentarians of the
Arctic Region in Kiruna, northern Sweden, which was held at the
beginning of August this year. One of the main topics of the conference
was "Innovation in the Arctic Governance: The Possibilities and
Limitations of a Binding Legal Regime for the Arctic."
The objective of this seminar is to identify gaps, challenges, and steps
that can be taken to make the global MEAs more relevant to the arctic
region and more useful in ensuring good governance and sustainable
development. The outcome of this seminar should be a set of
recommendations. On Day 2 draft recommendations will be developed and a
process for review and endorsement will be decided on. The aim is to
submit these recommendations to the Arctic Council and to the MEA
secretariats and to distribute them widely to arctic stakeholders.
The agenda can be downloaded from:
http://polar.grida.no/_documents/MEAgenda.pdf
Registration and hotel information is available at:
http://polar.grida.no/activities.cfm?pageID=4
Please note that the deadline for registration is Sunday, 10 September
2006.