Arctic Policy, Fisheries Management, Traditional Knowledge, and Protection of Indigenous Peoples' Languages

• Author: Øyvind Ravna
• Pages: 1-2

Arctic Policy, Fisheries Management,

Traditional Knowledge, and Protection

of Indigenous Peoples’ Languages

Arctic Review on Law and Politics aims at presenting such topics related to the Cir-

cumpolar Northern societies as policy and governance issues, resource management,

and matters concerning indigenous peoples. In this issue, we have the pleasure of

offering four peer-reviewed articles analyzing policy approaches, fisheries manage-

ment, incorporation of traditional knowledge, and realizing legal obligations to protect

indigenous peoples’ languages; all with a focus on the Arctic. Consequently, this issue

has a fine balance of articles, representing the kind of subjects we like to present in

Arctic Review on Law and Politics.

Kamrul Hossain explores EU engagement in the Arctic.He discusses whether the

policy responses from the eight Arctic states forming the Arctic Council recognize

the European Union as a legitimate stakeholder. The article concludes that although

the Arctic states determine the region’s governance approach, they include the EU in

a general partnership role with regard to the common goals of knowledge-based

responsible governance and sustainable development of the Arctic.

Referring to the European Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner’s state-

ment ‘‘Getting it right,’’ Peter

Ø

rebech analyzes the legislative and legal perspectives of

the new but still intermediate fisheries management regulation of 2013. His concern is

that the reported sweeping platform for a new Common European Union fisher y

policy, as announced, will not succeed. While the draft law’s ambitions and proposals

herald a new era, the final text of the 2013 regulation takes a U-turn and returns more

or less back to basics. Thus, the EU will still have to cope with its self-declared ‘‘five

structural failings.’’

Einar Eyþo

´rsson and Alma Elizabeth Thuestad elaborate on how indigenous peoples’

traditional knowledge can be incorporated in environmental impact assessment, par-

ticularly in Sa´mi areas of Norway. Referring to the obligation in the 2009 Norwegian

Nature Diversity Act to consider traditional knowledge in planning, resource, and land

management, they find that experiences from reviews for the Finnmark Commission

and impact assessments concerning Sa´mi land and resource use may represent a step

toward incorporating traditional knowledge in Norwegian planning processes. However,

the approach to documentation, methodology, and ethics in this field is open for debate.

Focusing on the Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Russian High North, Ekater ina

Zmyvalova examines how legal commitments concerning indigenous children’s right

Arctic Review on Law and Politics

Vol. 6, No. 2, 2015, pp. 8788

#2015 Øyvind Ravna. This is an Open Access article distributed under the ter ms of the Creative Commons

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Citation: Øyvind Ravna. ‘‘Arctic Policy,Fisher ies Management, TraditionalKnowledge, and Protection of Indigenous Peoples’

Languages.’’ Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2015, pp. 8788. http://dx.doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v6.202 87