Protection of the Arctic marine environment

This chapter examines what is the current framework and governance system for the Arctic marine environment to counter the various threats. It shows that the Arctic Ocean will likely be opened for the first time during the summer months in 2030–2040. The chapter examines how the governance 'landscape' and the various levels of governance are already preparing themselves for the emergence of a new Ocean. The Finnish initiative for Arctic-wide cooperation, the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy that ran from 1991–1997, was merged with the Canadian initiative on the Arctic Council during the transition period 1996–1998. Arctic Council's work on the marine environment has become increasingly ambitious. The most important segments of the current international governance of the marine environment of the Arctic Ocean are the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and multilateral environmental agreements that apply also in the Arctic.