Arctic Council

The Arctic Council is the main forum where the countries of the Arctic region work together. It has 8 member countries, all of which have land in the Arctic. It deals with environmental protection and sustainable development in the Arctic. It does not deal with military or security matters, and it is a forum, not a treaty-based international organisation.

Why does it exist?

The Arctic is a fragile region. Pollution, oil spills, melting ice and changes in wildlife affect all Arctic countries together, because air and sea currents do not stop at borders. Also, about 4 million people live in the Arctic, including many Indigenous communities. The countries needed one place to study these problems together and to agree on common action. Think of it like a residents' welfare committee of a housing society: it cannot arrest anyone, but it brings neighbours together to solve shared problems.

Where did it come from?

• 1991: The eight Arctic countries adopted the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) at Rovaniemi, Finland, to tackle pollution in the Arctic.
• 19 September 1996: The Ottawa Declaration was signed in Canada. It set up the Arctic Council and took over the work of the AEPS.
• The Ottawa Declaration clearly says the Council "should not deal with matters related to military security."
• Over time, the Council also produced three legally binding agreements, negotiated by its members (listed below).

Who is in the Arctic Council?

The 8 member states (called the "Arctic Eight"):

• Canada
• Denmark (which represents Greenland and the Faroe Islands)
• Finland
• Iceland
• Norway
• Russia
• Sweden
• The United States

The 6 Permanent Participants, who represent Indigenous peoples of the Arctic:

• Aleut International Association
• Arctic Athabaskan Council
• Gwich'in Council International
• Inuit Circumpolar Council
• Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North
• Saami Council

Permanent Participants do not vote, but they take part fully in discussions and must be consulted. This is a special feature of the Council: Indigenous peoples sit at the same table as governments.

Observers

Non-Arctic countries, international organisations and non-governmental organisations can become observers. There are 13 observer states as of 2025: China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Observers can attend meetings and contribute to working groups, but they cannot vote or make decisions.

How does it work?

• Decisions by consensus: Every decision needs the agreement of all 8 members. No voting by majority.
• Rotating chair: The chairmanship rotates among the 8 members every two years. Norway chaired from 2023 to 2025, and Denmark (together with Greenland and the Faroe Islands) holds the chair for 2025 to 2027.
• Secretariat: The permanent secretariat is in Tromsø, Norway.
• Working groups: Most of the real work, mainly scientific research and reports, is done by six working groups: AMAP (monitoring and assessment), CAFF (conservation of Arctic plants and animals), EPPR (emergency prevention and response), PAME (protection of the marine environment), SDWG (sustainable development) and ACAP (contaminants action).

The three binding agreements made under the Council:

1. Arctic Search and Rescue Agreement: signed in Nuuk, Greenland, on 12 May 2011. It was the first binding treaty made under the Council.
2. Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response Agreement: signed in Kiruna, Sweden, on 15 May 2013.
3. Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation: signed in Fairbanks, Alaska, on 11 May 2017.

The 2022 pause

Russia chaired the Council from 2021 to 2023. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the other seven members paused their work with the Council under Russia's leadership. Limited work later restarted. This showed a weakness: a body that works only by consensus struggles when one big member is in conflict with the others.

India's position and Indian examples

India is far from the Arctic, but the Arctic affects India. Scientists link changes in the Arctic to India's monsoon and to sea-level rise along India's coasts. India also has interests in Arctic shipping routes and resources.

• 1920: India (then under British rule) signed the Svalbard Treaty in Paris. This gives its signatories rights to carry out activities like research on Norway's Svalbard islands.
• 2007: India sent its first scientific expedition to the Arctic.
• 1 July 2008: India opened Himadri, its first permanent Arctic research station, at Ny-Ålesund on Spitsbergen island in Svalbard, Norway.
• 15 May 2013: India became an observer in the Arctic Council at the Kiruna meeting, along with China, Italy, Japan and South Korea.
• 2014: India set up IndARC, an underwater observatory in the Kongsfjorden fjord of Svalbard, to study the Arctic Ocean and its link to the monsoon.
• March 2022: India released its Arctic Policy, titled "India and the Arctic: Building a Partnership for Sustainable Development." It was brought out by the Ministry of Earth Sciences. It rests on six pillars: (1) science and research, (2) climate and environmental protection, (3) economic and human development, (4) transportation and connectivity, (5) governance and international cooperation, and (6) national capacity building.
• India's polar research, both Arctic and Antarctic, is led by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) in Goa.

Commonly confused concepts

• Arctic Council vs Antarctic Treaty: The Antarctic Treaty (1959) is a binding treaty that bans military use of Antarctica and freezes land claims. The Arctic Council is a forum created by a declaration, not a treaty. There is no single treaty covering the whole Arctic.
• Member vs Permanent Participant vs Observer: Members (8 countries) take decisions. Permanent Participants (6 Indigenous groups) are fully consulted but do not decide. Observers (like India) can attend and contribute, but have no decision-making role.
• Arctic Council vs Arctic Five: The "Arctic Five" are the five countries whose coasts touch the Arctic Ocean: Canada, Denmark (through Greenland), Norway, Russia and the US. Finland, Iceland and Sweden are Arctic Council members but are not coastal Arctic Ocean states.
• Himadri vs Bharati and Maitri: Himadri is India's station in the Arctic. Maitri and Bharati are India's stations in Antarctica. (Dakshin Gangotri was India's first Antarctic station.)

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• No security role: The Council cannot discuss military matters. But the Arctic is now becoming a zone of military competition, as the new US bases in Greenland show. There is no Arctic forum to manage these tensions.
• Consensus trap: Because every decision needs all 8 members, one country can block action. The 2022 pause showed this clearly.
• Soft law: Most of the Council's output is reports and guidelines, not binding rules. Only three binding agreements exist.
• Growing outside interest: China calls itself a "Near-Arctic State" and has invested in Arctic shipping and research. Some Arctic states worry about this. Observers like India want a bigger say because Arctic changes affect them too.
• Way forward: Experts suggest protecting the Council's scientific work from politics, bringing in Indigenous knowledge more deeply, and building separate channels to reduce military risks. For India, the Arctic Policy points to more research, more polar scientists and partnerships with Arctic states.

Concepts to Know

• Forum vs international organisation: A forum is a meeting place where countries talk and cooperate without a founding treaty. An international organisation (like the UN) is usually created by a binding treaty and has legal powers.
• Consensus: A decision that everyone agrees to, or at least nobody objects to. It is different from a majority vote.
• Indigenous peoples: The original communities of a region who lived there before outsiders arrived, such as the Inuit and Saami in the Arctic.
• Binding agreement: An agreement that countries are legally required to follow once they join it.
• Svalbard: A group of Norwegian islands in the Arctic Ocean. Under the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, Norway has sovereignty, but citizens of all signatory countries can carry out certain activities there.