384
Arctic Yearbook 2014
The Policy Document
The Foreword to ‘Adapting to Change’ begins the presentation of Arctic issues with climate
change, but quickly segues to the new commercial opportunities arising. As regards the British
national starting-point, a careful balance is drawn. The UK is not an Arctic state, but does claim
to be the Arctic’s ‘nearest neighbour’ – since the northern tip of the Shetland Isles falls only 400
kilometres short of the Arctic Circle. It respects ‘the sovereign right of the Arctic States to
exercise jurisdiction over their territory’, and the interests of all people living in the Arctic: but it
has a claim to be involved firstly in the light of its own national interests and competences
(including possible ‘leadership’ in some fields), and secondly because ‘what happens in the Arctic
has a global impact’. Overall, the document commits the UK to work ‘with international partners
to balance the needs of human development with environmental protection’. It confirms that the
principles and actions laid down will be binding on ‘the whole of Government’ in the UK.
(Later, it is explained that the document will be open to review with no fixed timetable, and is
designed to encourage public debate.)
The rest of the 33-page paper falls into four main sections. Its introductory part comprises a
sketch of what is happening in the present-day Arctic and a chapter on ‘the UK’s approach’. The
former covers the obvious ground on climate change and emergent commercial possibilities, but
includes some interesting nuances, stressing for example that the Arctic has been linked with the
world both by trade and by the effects of pollution since Roman times, and that fossil-fuel
exploitation, fishing and tourism have already been expanding there since the 1960s. Current
changes are driven substantially by pollution from outside the Arctic but in turn can affect nonArctic regions through climatic feedback effects, new energy and rare earth supplies, new
shipping routes and further growth in tourism. These points are clearly designed to bolster the
legitimacy of a non-Arctic state’s involvement, and recall arguments used lately by Chinese
representatives among others.25 Further, the document stresses that the Arctic is not a
homogeneous region and contains many different sets of climatic and social conditions –
perhaps an indirect way of relativizing the issue of indigenous peoples. Finally, this scene-setting
section recommends an Arctic information website provided by British academic institutions for
secondary schools.26
The UK’s policy ‘vision’ is summarized thus:
The UK will work towards an Arctic that is safe and secure; well governed in
conjunction with indigenous peoples and in line with international law; where
policies are developed on the basis of sound science with full regard to the
environment; and where only responsible development takes place.
More details are provided in sections sub-titled ‘respect’, ‘leadership’ and ‘cooperation’. The first
of these again states the UK’s respect for the rights of the Arctic States, the rights of local
peoples, and the environment (in that order), but again emphasizes that the Arctic is far from a
‘pristine wilderness’. Environment and development need not form a dichotomy if good
‘stewardship’ is exercised, ‘while providing opportunities for growth and prosperity’. Under
‘leadership’, the Arctic States are once more accorded the first responsibility for peaceful and
well-balanced development in the Arctic; but the UK lays a claim