March 29-30, 2017 the Fourth International Arctic Forum
On March 29-30, 2017 the Fourth International Arctic Forum 
“The Arctic – Territory of Dialogue” was held at Arkhangelsk, a northern region in Russia described as a “gateway to the Arctic”. A key theme of the forum this year is People and the Arctic, highlightening the importance of the role of human being in the Arctic sustainability. Political leaders from Russia, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and China attended the forum, and more than 2000 people from academia, government, business and media participated in the forum panels, where combat with climate change at the Arctic and international cooperations among the Arctic stakeholders were still heated topics for discussions.
August 8, 2016
The SCAR Open Science Conference (OSC) will be held on August 22-26, 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Director Shibata and research fellow Lindsay Arthur Tamm will attend the conference and make presentations.
August 8, 2016
On July 6-8, 2016, 3rd Arctic 5+5 meeting on Arctic high seas fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean was held in Iqaluit, Canada. The chairman's statement of this meeting is now available here .
May 9, 2016
On April 19-21, 2016, the meeting on the high seas fisheries in the central Arctic Ocean (CAO) was held in Washington D.C. with the participation of Canada, China, Denmark, the EU, Iceland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Norway, Russia and the U.S. (5+5). In the meeting, the delegations discussed the scientific workshop to be held in Tromso in September 2016 and the possible future measures to prevent unregulated commercial fishing in the high seas of the CAO based on the updated US proposal for an international agreement. The Chairman's Statement of this meeting is now available here . The next meeting will be held on 6-8 July in Iqaluit, Canada.
May 2, 2016
Arctic cooperation among Japan, China and South Korea. On April 28, 2016, the 1st high high-level dialogue among these three states on the Arctic was held in Seoul, South Korea with the participation of Arctic Ambassodor Kazuko Shiraishi from Japan. The high level dialogue issued a joint press release in which the heads of the delegation "shared the view that ...... scientific research is among the most promising areas for their joint activities and trilateral cooperative activities in this area need to be encouraged" (para.5). Moreover, they "decided to report the discussions of this Dialogue to the Arctic Council through appropriate channels" (para.6). The 2nd high-level dialogue is to be hosted by Japan. The joint press release is now available in English and in Japanese .
April 13, 2016
On March 14, 2016, Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) published an important report on the Arctic Council entitled "An Arctic Redesign: Recommendations to Rejuvenate the Arctic Council." The report identifies several challenges which the Arctic Council is now facing, including the issue of observer states, and provides recommendations for Arctic Council's institutional reforms in order for it to overcome these challenges. The report is available here .
April 13, 2016
Japan-Finland cooperation on the Arctic. On March 10, 2016, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe held a summit meeting with President of Finland Sauli Niinistö in Tokyo. The two leaders made a joint statement in which they shared the determination to enhance cooperation on various Arctic issues within the Arctic Council and other fora, noting Finland's upcoming chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2017-2019 (para.13), and confirmed their commitment to advance cooperation in their shared interest in futher unilization of Northern Sea Route (NSR) (para.14). The Joint Statement is available here .
April 2, 2016
Recent two important conferences on the Arctic: On March 12, 2016, the Fletcher School held the Fletcher Opening Arctic V Conference in which distinguished panelists including Japanese Arctic Ambassador Kazuko Shiraishi discussed the various Arctic issues from Arctic diplomacy to sustainable Arctic development. On February 29, 2016, the Wilson Center's polar initiative organized IMO Polar Code Roundtable which discussed the issues concerning forthcoming implementation of IMO Polar Code.
.
May 7, 2019 The 11th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting 2019 held in Rovaniemi