The Arctic Circle 2015, the Arctic assembly held annually in Reykjavik (since 2013), will open today with a Welcome Reception at the Reykjavík Art Museum, in the Harbor House, while the Opening Plenary Session will be tomorrow at 8:30 in Harpa.
The program for today includes also two "Pre-Events": the Arctic Circle Advisory Board Meeting (Harpa) and the Energy Security Forum (Reykjavík University, Nauthólsvík13,30-17,00) .
About the Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is designed to increase participation in Arctic dialogue and strengthen the international focus on the future of the Arctic. Participating organizations will maintain their full institutional independence, identity and decision-making abilities. To this end, the Arctic Circle aims to create opportunities for everyone to attend various meetings, conduct their own networking and engage in one-on-one informal discussions. Organizations will be able to decide their own agendas and convene their own meetings.
The annual Arctic Circle Assembly has become the largest international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 1,500 participants from close to 50 countries. The Assembly is held every October at the Harpa Conference Center and Conference Hall in Reykjavík, Iceland. In addition, the Arctic Circle organizes smaller forums on specific subjects, such as the 2015 forums in Alaska and Singapore, and the 2016 forums in Québec and Greenland.
The Arctic Circle is nonprofit and nonpartisan. Organizations, forums, think tanks, corporations and public associations around the world are invited to hold meetings within the Arctic Circle platform to advance their own missions and the broader goal of increasing collaborative decision-making without surrendering their institutional independence.
Topics
The Arctic Circle organizes sessions on a variety of issues, such as:
- Sea ice melt and extreme weather
- Polar law: treaties and agreements
- The role and rights of indigenous peoples
- Security in the Arctic
- Shipping and transportation infrastructure
- Circumpolar Health and Well Being
- The prospects and risks of oil and gas drilling
- Clean energy achievements and sustainable development
- Arctic resources
- Business cooperation in the Arctic
- The role of Asian and European countries in the Arctic
- Greenland in the new Arctic
- Fisheries and ecosystem management
- The science of ice: global research cooperation
- Arctic tourism
- The ice-dependent world: the Arctic and the Himalayas
Read more here.