EURARCTIKA · The European Union in the Arctic
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-09-01 → 2022-08-31
- EU contribution
- €175,572
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
The European Union in the Arctic
The aim of the project EURARCTIKA was to analyse the geopolitical and legal engagement of the EU to protect the Arctic environment. The EU is important for the Arctic and the Arctic is important for the EU. The EU engagement in the Arctic has its roots in the EU’s geopolitical and economic interests in the region. From a geopolitical perspective, the importance of the Arctic for the EU essentially lies on the presence of states like the United States and Russia, which are key actors also in the international arena. From an economic perspective, the EU has strong interests in the region. Indeed, half of the fish caught in polar waters and one quarter of the oil and gas extracted go to the EU. Also, the EU is a large contributor to Arctic research with around 200 million euro committed to research projects in the region. Therefore, for the Arctic the EU is important economically but also geopolitically as the latter is one of the most important actors internationally. Additionally, the European Union has a distinct negative impact on the Arctic environment with its greenhouse gases and black carbon emissions while environmental challenges and economic opportunities in the Arctic have significant repercussions on the life of European citizens for generations to come. For this reason, the EU should play a key role in the protection of the Arctic environment. Over time, the EU has strenghtened its relations with the states in the region as well as with the Arctic Council, which is the most important intergovernmental forum guiding cooperation in the Arctic. The EU is an ad hoc observer in the Arctic Council. Furthermore, the EU is a full-fledged member of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council through the European Commission. In both forums, the EU contributes to the protection of the environment and to sustainability in the region by being involved in a number of projects. Additionally, the EU environmental legislation impacts the region only indirectly. The three EU member states that are Arctic states - namely Denmark, Finland and Sweden - must abide by the EU legislation when they sign an international agreement. Also, Iceland and Norway are part of the European Economic Area (EEA), which means that the EU legislation is also taken into consideration there.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The European Union in the Arctic (EURARCTIKA) research project’s objective is to investigate which legal and geopolitical instruments the EU could use in order to contribute to the protection of the Arctic environment. The timeliness of this issue is due to the fact that the Arctic is warming at a rate of almost twice the global average, which is making energy resources and transportation routes much more accessible while jeopardizing the environment at the same time.The EU is an important actor in the Arctic where it has geopolitical and economic interests. Additionally, the EU has a distinct negative impact on the Arctic environment with its greenhouse gases and black carbon emissions. For this reason, the EU should take responsibility for its impact on the Arctic and play a role in the protection of its environment. EURARCTIKA combines two branches of international studies (law and international relations). These latter analyse the same phenomenon from different perspectives that are however complementary offering a complete analysis of the object of study. EURARCTIKA will first analyse the main features of the Arctic legal regime for environmental protection and will identify its main strengths and weaknesses in order to evaluate its effectiveness. It will subsequently focus on the geopolitical and economic interests of the EU and of states in the region and the implications at the international level. Finally, the project will investigate the measures, the instruments, and the strategies that the EU can use to contribute to develop an effective environmental regime in the region in order to protect the Arctic environment.Through an extensive dissimination of the research results (open-access publications, a high-level conference, workshops participation and presentations), this research project will allow experts, academics and stakeholders to understand how the EU can contribute to the protection of the Arctic environment.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM · AmsterdamCoordinatorNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union