MURMANSK, RUSSIA
International co-operation to regulate industrial development in the Arctic Ocean was among the topics discussed at an international meeting of Arctic parliamentarians in Murmansk, Russia, last month.

Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington met with his circumpolar counterparts in Murmansk, Russia, last month during the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region. Bevington plans to continue a dialogue about international co-operation among Arctic nations at the next meeting in Ottawa in February. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo

Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington and Yukon MP Ryan Leef represented the Canadian North at the latest meeting of the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region from Sept. 18 to 20.

The Canadian MPs were joined by more than a dozen Arctic parliamentarians representing the U.S., Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Greenland, Norway and Russia.

The Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region formed in 1993 to support the establishment of the Arctic Council, where it maintains observer status. The organization maintains an international dialogue about international Arctic development from regional perspectives.

"The scope is probably a little larger than the Arctic Council because we're not simply dealing with international issues – the Arctic Council is really designed for that – but, we're dealing with the development of the Arctic in the eyes of each national assembly or each national body," Bevington said.

The Arctic Parliament discusses subjects such as shipping routes, research, development and climate change. International co-operation to protect habitat and wildlife in the Arctic Ocean was prominent on the agenda at last month's meeting.

"The Russians were proposing that we start to develop a conversation about international standards for environmental protection and environmental regulation through the international Arctic, which is anywhere in the Arctic Ocean, basically," Bevington said. "I agreed with them and I pushed them to say how they would accomplish this."

The committee resolved to establish a working group to determine the potential for international co-operation on environmental protection and regulation in the Arctic.

Bevington said the call for international co-operation was reinforced by Russian president Vladimir Putin a week later during a Sept. 25 speech at the third International Arctic Forum held above the Arctic Circle in Salekhard, Russia.

"Nature conservation and maintaining a balance between economic activity, human presence, and preserving the natural environment must be key priorities and principles in our work to develop the Arctic," Putin said, according to the Kremlin transcript. "This is all the more important given that the Arctic, with its fragile and vulnerable ecosystems and sensitive climate, has such an impact on the entire planet’s environmental state of health."

Bevington said he appreciates hearing the call for nations to balance industrial development with environmental protection being expressed at the highest political levels in Russia.

"There's the sense of the need for some more international co-operation in this regard. It was good to hear," Bevington said. "That's what I think a lot of people are looking for -- a lot more international co-operation. We need to do this work. The more we understand and work together in the Arctic, I think, it's indicative of human growth. This is a new region that's opening up – how well are we going to deal with it?"

The Arctic parliamentarians standing committee, which meets up to four times a year, is scheduled to convene again in February in Ottawa before holding its biannual conference in Whitehorse next September.

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