PCRC News


  • March 19, 2024

    How to protect submarine cables in the Arctic: ArCS II Fact Sheet explains

    In October last year, a submarine telecommunication cable connecting Finland and Estonia under the Baltic Sea had been damaged in what may have been a deliberate act. Development and protection of submarine cables in the Arctic is crucially important for social and economic development of the Arctic peoples as well as for stronger connectivity between Japan on one hand and North America and Europe on the other. Under the leadership of Director Shibata, ArCS II International Law Program has published a Fact Sheet as its 10th volume of Briefing Paper Series (BPS) on “Protection of Submarine Cables in the Arctic”. This Fact Sheet describes concisely the current situation and plans regarding the pan-Arctic submarine cables development and the legal frameworks protecting such important infrastructure. It also describes recent responses, such as the Coordination Cell for Critical Subsea Infrastructure established by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and a Memorandum of Cooperation between Japan and EU signed in July 2023. For press release and the download, access here.


  • February 7, 2024

    Giant underwater curtain in the Antarctic? We will discuss it on March 4!

    PCRC will convene its 27th international law seminar entitled "Governing Glacial Geoengineering at the South Pole? The political and legal risks of ‘ice sheet conservation’ in Antarctica", with Associate Professor Patrick Flamm as our main speaker. There is a growing academic debate about the potential of supporting glacial stability through artificial infrastructures such as underwater curtains (see recent Nature article below). Inviting an Antarctic sea-ice specialist from Hokkaido University as a commentator, this seminar leads off such a critical discussion based on a multi-disciplinary collaborative research approach. Pre-registration is required through website by February 29. For the details, please refer to the flyer.


  • January 29, 2024

    With Visiting Associate Prof. Flamm from Germany, PCRC will strengthen collaborative research on Antarctic governance!

    Dr. Patrick Florian Flamm, Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, will be our Visiting Associate Professor for one and half month under Kobe University Strategic International Collaboration Grant Type C project on “The Rule-based International Order after the Russian aggression of Ukraine: Multidisciplinary research”. During his stay at PCRC, Dr. Flamm and Director Shibata will conduct collaborative research on ice-geoenginnering applied to the Antarctic (see recent Nature article) and more generally on the changing geopolitical context of the Antarctic governance applying Patrick's theoretical framework of "co-opetition".


  • January 22, 2024

    Briefing Paper Series No.9 on Türkiye’s engagement in the Arctic governance is published, co-authored by Dr. Nasih Sarp Ergüven and Director Shibata

    ArCS II International Law Research Program has published its 9th volume of Briefing Paper Series (BPS) “Türkiye’s engagement in the Arctic governance: its history and into the future”. The ninth volume of the BPS is a fact sheet describing Türkiye’s historical interest going back to its Ottoman Empire period in both the Arctic and the Antarctic, its current polar scientific activities and their projection into the future, and its (failed) 2015 application to gain an Observer status in the Arctic Council. It also noted that Turkey has a medium- to long-term strategy in the Arctic and the significance of becoming a signatory to the Svalbard Convention. For press release and the download, access here.


  • December 29, 2023

    Director Shibata as a Guest Editor invites submissions to Special Collection in the journal Antarctic Science

    From 2022 with early career scholars Yelena Yermakova (Princeton University) and Rebecca Hingley (Australian Antarctic Division), Director Shibata has been planning for a special issue on The policy-law-science nexus in the Antarctic, and, finally, it was established in Antarctic Science, a WoS journal of Cambridge University Press. It is a subsection in the Special Collection entitled "Advances in Antarctic Humanities and Social Science Scholarship”. Director Shibata invites full papers that would examine how science-based decision-making is operationalized within the Antarctic context by studying the nexus between policy, law and science. Link to the Special Collection.


  • December 25, 2023

    The entire videos from Antarctic Workshop are now available on YouTube!

    The entire videos from the international workshop on The Future of Antarctic Governance: Antarctic Environmental Liability and Lawyers’ Role in Consensus-building” held on December 1 are now available on YouTube. Please click here to view.


  • Last updated March 19, 2024

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