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Abstract
This chapter explores how jurisdiction under Article 234 may be used by Arctic coastal States at a time marked by significant change. Warming temperatures reshape the physical and ecological environment of the Arctic, making it more hospitable to shipping, but also more vulnerable to its threats. The Polar Code, adopted as the international response to increasing polar shipping and growing awareness of its detrimental impacts, alters the legal environment by providing the first binding international regulations tailor-made for navigation in polar waters. This chapter sets out to investigate the legal implications of these changes for coastal State regulation under Article 234 with a particular focus on Canada. It starts by tracing Canada’s history of regulating shipping in its Arctic waters with the objective to understand how the consequences of this politically fraught endeavour still reverberate today. The chapter then turns to examine the geographical and material scope of jurisdiction under Article 234 against the background of present-day imperatives, before critically assessing Canada’s strategy to subject navigation in its Arctic waters to a single set of rules. The chapter closes by summarizing the main conclusions, which may hold lessons for future regulatory action.
Abstract
This concluding chapter reflects issues and directions for the governance of shipping in Canadian Arctic waters at a time of unprecedented change drawing on the themes discussed throughout the book, in particular the interface between shipping, Indigenous rights and environment protection. The Arctic is a unique ecoregion that is subject to mixed adverse and beneficial impacts due to the consequences of climate change, most especially because of enhanced mobility enabled by shipping. Most importantly, the Canadian Arctic is Inuit Nunangat, the homeland of Inuit, and calls for development that places the interests of its inhabitants at the centre. The potential risks and benefits of increasing industrialization and other economic activities must be subject to socially and environmentally responsible governance. At this time, the governance of shipping in Canadian Arctic waters is fragmented and needs to be strengthened in view of the designation of low-impact shipping corridors. Future maritime governance demands strengthening and concertation of State powers and measures with respect to clear policy directions, modernized coordinated regulation, coordinated institutional framework, effective management measures, proper funding of initiatives and capacity-building.
Abstract
This chapter introduces Shipping in Inuit Nunangat: Governance Challenges and Approaches in Canadian Arctic Waters. The volume intends to offer timely reflection on governance issues related to shipping in Canadian Arctic waters at a time of tremendous physical and ecological changes due to warming temperatures, a shifting legal environment prompted among others by the Polar Code, and a new sense of agency that motivates Inuit to play an active part in shaping the future of their homeland, Inuit Nunangat. The Introduction describes the geographical focus of the book before turning to the main governance concerns that emerge from the following chapters. Prominent among them is the challenge for Canadian policy-makers to plot a path out of Canada’s colonial past, which still undermines relationships between Inuit and the Crown, including with respect to shipping regulations. Another key concern is related to the fragile Arctic ecosystem and the need to make efficient protection against vessel-source disturbances a priority to minimize additional stressors as much as possible. These concerns need further to be squared with considerations related to the region’s economic development and issues of sovereignty, safety, security and military defence. The last part of the Introduction provides an overview of the chapters that follow.
Governance Challenges and Approaches in Canadian Arctic Waters
Shipping in Inuit Nunangat is a timely multidisciplinary volume offering novel insights into key maritime governance issues in Canadian Arctic waters that are Inuit homeland (Inuit Nunangat) in the contemporary context of climate change, growing accessibility of Arctic waters to shipping, the need to protect a highly sensitive environment, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The volume includes policy, legal and institutional findings and recommendations intended to inform scholars and policymakers on managing the interface between shipping, the marine environment, and Indigenous rights in Arctic waters.
Governance Challenges and Approaches in Canadian Arctic Waters
Shipping in Inuit Nunangat is a timely multidisciplinary volume offering novel insights into key maritime governance issues in Canadian Arctic waters that are Inuit homeland (Inuit Nunangat) in the contemporary context of climate change, growing accessibility of Arctic waters to shipping, the need to protect a highly sensitive environment, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The volume includes policy, legal and institutional findings and recommendations intended to inform scholars and policymakers on managing the interface between shipping, the marine environment, and Indigenous rights in Arctic waters.
Abstract
The Arctic Ocean and its adjacent seas have many unique ecological features, including species and food webs that are highly adapted to the cold polar environment. These ecosystems are now under intense pressure from climate change, which is proceeding rapidly at high northern latitudes and acting in concert with other global stressors. The Arctic Ocean ecosystem is therefore in a precarious ecological state and is vulnerable to additional perturbations. Arctic shipping has entered a phase of rapid expansion, and is imposing new threats to the survival and health of Arctic marine life. These threats include potential chemical impacts through discharges and emissions; physical impacts through noise pollution, icebreaking and ship collisions with animals; and biological impacts through the dispersal of invasive species living on ship hulls or in ballast waters. The cold water ecosystems of the Arctic are especially vulnerable to oil pollution that would result from collisions or grounding. There are ways to reduce the risk of catastrophic and cumulative impacts of shipping in the region, building on the Polar Code and with further attention to marine protected areas. Given the precarious state of the Arctic Ocean, all current and future shipping activities need to be closely scrutinized, monitored and regulated.