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Arctic Council
As most General Assembly delegates are aware, the Arctic Council, along with the United Nations, is the international organization through which ICC expends much of its human and financial resources. Many of the activities described in this report have some connection to a working group or program area inside the Arctic Council and, as such, reference to the Council is often made elsewhere in this report. ICC has used the Arctic Council as its forum to highlight many of the challenges facing Inuit, and it did so again in 2002 2006. It must be stated, however, that due to the constraints of consensus, and the desire of some of the 8 governments on the Council to stay clear of controversy, some issues are off the table. In these cases, such as matters of sustainable use for example, ICC uses other more appropriate international venues to further Inuit causes.
Readers are encouraged to visit the Arctic Councils website for further information at www.arctic-council.org. ICC is involved in all areas of Arctic Council work. Only the lack of financial resources has made it impossible for ICC to be as active as it needs in several of the Arctic Councils mandates.
In 2002 2006, ICC participated in meetings every six months of Senior Arctic Officials and every two years in meetings of ministers. Since ICC does not have the resources to participate actively in all activities of the council, it focussed much of its work on the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) and Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) activities on contaminants and climate change. From 2004 to 2006, however, ICC also played an active role in the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA) implemented by the working group on Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) and now, near the end of the 4-year term, ICC is working to support the proposed Circumpolar Biodiversity Assessment to be carried out by CAFF. While not all of the activities in which ICC involved itself can be described here, it is worth mentioning that its elected leaders and staff also worked with the working group, Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPPR), helping it to develop an ecosystem-based approach to its work; a project on indicators under the Arctic Human Development Report; and actively participated in the Second International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP II). The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) has been discussed elsewhere.
ICC has also been involved in the Arctic Councils Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) including its Children and Youth project. Another SDWG initiative that ICC actively supports is entitled Womens Participation in Decision-Making Processes in Arctic Fisheries Resource Management. ICC is a member of the project steering committee. Finally, it also supports and helps manage an SDWG project called Women and Resource Management in the Rural North.
The permanent participants of the Arctic Council are supported by an Indigenous Peoples Secretariat (IPS), which is based in Copenhagen and substantially supported financially by the Danish government and, to some extent, by Canada. ICC has participated effectively on the board of directors of the IPS, and in issue-specific workshops held by IPS over the past four years.
