Topic:
Country: Finland
Delegate Name: Shep Bower
SpecPol
Arctic Circle Resource Exploitation
The Republic of Finland
Shep Bower
Forest Hills Eastern
The Arctic Circle has been exploited for resources and land over the past few decades. The Arctic Circle contains some of the world’s largest undiscovered reserves of both natural gas and oil reserves. Although extraction is expensive, improving technology and transportation is creating more opportunities for nations to extract those resources. Passed by the United Nations in 1982, the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the main legal policy in place to protect the Arctic Circle, however not all countries are bound to this law. There are five states who currently have hold of territory in the Arctic Circle: United States, Russia, Canada, Norway and Denmark. These countries are known as the Arctic five (A5). This group splits all of the worldly nations into two groups: Arctic states and Non-Arctic states. The Arctic States include the A5 plus Finland, Sweden, and Iceland. The Arctic States are what makes up the Arctic council that makes decisions regarding Arctic territory. Some of these nations are starting to find the benefits of Arctic exploitation.The A5 nations view this as a threat to their current land claims in the Arctic. The A5 also wants to split up any undiscovered resources just between the A5, therefore laying claim to any further Arctic resources that are discovered. This creates conflict between Arctic States and Non-Arctic States.
As one of the eight permanent members of the Arctic Council, Finland has a strong opinion on the topic. Finland’s goal is to have a peaceful Arctic region marked by constructive cooperation. Finland’s four priorities for the Arctic Region are: mitigation and adaptation of climate change, promoting the rights of the indigenous people, expertise and leading edge research, and infrastructure and logistics. Finland has driven actions to enhance the Arctic Circle’s relation with their observers by encouraging the observers to present information in special sessions. Finland has also helped in the establishment of the Arctic Biodiversity Congress, which brought together many different representatives to discuss challenges facing Arctic biodiversity and actions for conservation and sustainable use of the Arctic’s living resources. The Arctic policy of Finland includes its domestic policies as regards the Finnish Arctic Region. Finland’s goal with climate change is to attain the goals of the Paris agreement, but its unattainable with the opening up of new fossil reserves in Arctic conditions. Finland wants to increase access to remote and digital services for the Indigenous inhabitants of the Arctic Circle and promote gender equality. They also want to increase access to education for the Indigenous people of the Arctic region and grow the economy of the Indigenous people. Finland wants to protect the language, customs and rights of the Sámi people. They would also like to improve the indigenous’ peoples opportunities to participate in Arctic cooperation. Finland wants publicly funded research on the Arctic and to improve transport connections.
Finland would like to pass further nature-based climate change acts. Finland would also like to phase out fossil fuels by developing decentralized renewable energy production. Finland recommends the UN developmore remote programs for health services. Finland also encourages the improvement of the regional equality of basic and secondary education through digital programs and improve diverse education in lowly populated areas. Finland would like to strengthen the teaching of Sámi languages and indigenous peoples’ international partnerships that protect their cultures. Finland would like to support sustainable development of the economy and conditions for creating more valuable jobs. Finland would like for institutions to conduct publicly funded research on the Arctic. Finland would like to develop new services, enabling effective travel to help support sustainable mobility.
