Thematic Network on Arctic Law

In recent years legal issues in the Arctic have gained special significance as the region is undergoing a huge transformation. This transformation is mainly due to double pressures of economic globalization and climate change, which causes a wide array of challenges to the existing legal structures functioning in the region.

Goals

  • Building a network of Arctic legal experts.
  • Research cooperation amongst the members of the thematic network.
  • Cooperation with other thematic network in order to undertake multi-disciplinary research projects.
  • Organizing seminars and conferences in order to disseminate Arctic legal questions to the wider audiences.
  • Contribution in the development of legal education focusing on Arctic issues.
  • Taking part in the preparation of joint funding applications along with other members and member institutions of the Thematic Network.

Activities

  • Organizing seminars and conferences and in order to disseminate Arctic legal knowledge.
  • Development of legal education programmes.
  • Facilitating the preparation of joint funding applications.
  • Joint project on curriculum development for interdisciplinary Master’s program “STEP into Russian Arctic”
  • Food (in)Security in the Arctic: Contribution of Traditional and Local Food to promote Food Security with Particular Reference to the European High North, https://www.arcticcentre.org/EN/projects/foodsecurity
  • 10th International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences - ICASS X - 15-19 June 2021 Arkhangelsk:
    • Thematic network on Arctic Law will held a panel session on “Food security in the Circumpolar region, challenges and solutions”
    • The sub-group of the Thematic Network – the Philosophy of Law – will host a panel session titled “Man and Law in the Arctic: traditional, corporate, international and national life support regimes”
  • Societal Security collaboration in research and education (01.08.2019 → 31.12.2020). Visit the project webpage here.
  • Pilot project for institutionalizing research-end user cooperation in societal security research (2019-2020). Visit the project webpage here.
  • Polar Law Symposium 2020
  • Arctic Law Summer School,12-18 July, 2020 in Arkhangelsk, Russia, joint organization with Northern (Arctic) Federal University
  • Food (in)Security in the Arctic: The final project workshop, August 26-27, 2019, Rovaniemi
  • Finnish-Japanese Summer School on Arctic Studies, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, July 26 - August 7, 2019
  • Finnish-Japanese Arctic Studies Program, https://www.arcticcentre.org/EN/projects/finnish-japanese-arctic-studies
  • Ice Law Project: This project seeks to investigate the potential for a legal framework that acknowledges the complex geophysical environment in the world’s frozen regions and explores the impact that an ice-sensitive legal system would have on topics ranging from the everyday activities of Arctic residents to the territorial foundations of the modern state.
  • Publication: Philosophy of Law in the Arctic (Bunikowski)
  • Publication: Russian Laws on Indigenous Issues: Guarantees, Communities, Territories of Traditional Land Use: Translated and Commented (Zadorin, Klisheva, Vezhlivtseva and Antufieva 2017)

Other Information

Topical issues related to Arctic Law include

  • Outer continental shelf law in the Arctic Ocean
  • Legal questions related to the opening Arctic seas
  • Rights of Arctic indigenous peoples
  • Biodiversity law
  • Oil and gas related regulations
  • Arctic Governance
  • Philosophy of law in the Arctic

The Thematic Network includes the following sub-groups:

Arctic Archives (Sub-Group Lead: Rachael Lorna Johnstone, University of Akureyri, Iceland)

Philosophy of law in the Arctic (Sub-Group Lead: Dr. Dawid Bunikowski, University of Eastern Finland)

 

Kamrul Hossain, Lead of the UArctic Thematic Network on Arctic Law

 

Kamrul Hossain, Lead of the UArctic Thematic Network on Arctic Law, interviewed by Nepal Television