IPY 2007-2008

Symposium: Looking beyond International Polar Year: Emerging and re-emerging issues in international law and policy in the polar regions

The United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies (Japan) in conjunction with the University of Akureyri (Iceland), and with the involvement of Tilburg University (the Netherlands) and the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland (Finland) are pleased to announce an international symposium titled “Looking beyond International Polar Year: Emerging and re-emerging issues in international law and policy in the polar regions” to be held at the University of Akureyri, Iceland from Sunday 7th to Tuesday 9th of September, 2008.

The symposium coincides with the launch of a new master’s program on polar law at the University of Akureyri. The symposium is occurring towards the end of the International Polar Year. The purpose of the symposium is to bring together the world’s leading scholars in international law and policy to identify emerging and re-emerging issues in international law and policy that relate to the Polar Regions (Arctic and Antarctica), and to map out a research agenda for future research beyond the International Polar Year. Internationally renowned experts on international law and policy and the Polar Regions will be invited to present papers on their views on the key emerging and re-emerging issues for the Polar Regions beyond the International Polar Year.

The main aim of the symposium is to address the following questions:

• What are the main emerging and re-emerging issues in international law and policy relating to the Polar Regions warranting international action?


• Are the current international legal and policy systems able to address these issues?


• What issues require immediate action by the international community?


• What issues will require action by the international community in the longer term?


• What steps should countries take to address these issues?


• Which of these issues warrant further detailed research by legal scholars and other disciplines?

These questions will be addressed across the following broad themes:

• Theme I: Challenges for the Protection of Biodiversity and Wilderness in the Polar Regions;


• Theme II: Sustainable Development and Human Rights;


• Theme III: Environmental Governance in the Polar Regions;


• Theme IV: Emergent and re-emerging jurisidictional issues in the Polar Regions;

The second day of the symposium will conclude with a workshop session which based on the papers delivered by key note speakers and panellists will seek to come up with answers to the key questions posed for the symposium.

The symposium will result in two major publications. The first is a series of peer reviewed journal articles to be published in the first edition of a new scholarly Yearbook to be called the Yearbook of Polar Law to be published by Brill Publishing.

The symposium therefore aims to act as a major scholarly event and also to come up with policy relevant recommendations for action by governments and other international actors.

Contact info: leary[at]ias.unu.edu

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