Towards More Transparent and Effective Policies in the Arctic (Speech notes)
In this speech, given at the Arctic Circle Inaugural Meeting on October 12-14, 2013, in Reykjavik, IISD Vice-President Mark Halle argues that the Arctic is on the cusp of rapid development, and ensuring that this development is sustainable is a challenge and an opportunity.
It is a challenge because of the pace of change and the special characteristics of the Arctic environment, but it is also an opportunity to place Arctic development into a sustainable framework before the momentum of energy and resource exploitation begin to close off options. This will require concerted international cooperation to agree on the policy and regulatory frameworks and to put them in place before large-scale operation come on stream.
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