Polar Cooperation Research Centre (PCRC), Kobe University

On 22-24 October in Nuuk, Greenland, the 18th Polar Law Symposium will be held, with Director Shibata moderating one plenary session and one breakout session on Ice Governance led by Associate Professor Miharu Hirano, and being a panelist in the final plenary session on Asia and International Polar Law. Dr. Osamu Inagaki will be leading one breakout session on Antarctic Air Tourism and making a presentation on CAO Fisheries Agreement. Please refer to the exciting draft program.

On October 9, Kobe PCRC is delighted to welcome two diplomats visiting us from the Embassy of Canada to Japan in Tokyo. One of them, Ms Christine Guilbault will talk on Canada's Arctic Foreign Policy launced in December 2024. For the details, please refer to the flyer.

Kobe PCRC and Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) have been co-organizing Antarctic governance workshops annually since 2023, previously in Kobe, Japan. This time, KOPRI will host its third meeting in Incheon, Korea, on September 15, entitled “Antarctic Treaty at a Crossroad: Navigating Change through Cooperation”. This event will be convened as a JSPS Core-to-Core Program seminar, with its participating researchers as panelists from Kobe University, The University of Tokyo (guest), UTAS, University of Wollongong, KOPRI, Yonsei University, and Ocean University of China. A brief report with photos by Ms Vivanco, GSICS LL.M., is now available.

The Elgar's Concise Encyclopedia of Polar Law (2025) will　be one of the most authoritative and essential resources for students and scholars in this area of law. Four entries have been contributed by the PCRC members. "ATCMs" by Akiho Shibata and Zia Madani; "Arctic Science Cooperation Agreement" by Osamu Inagaki and Akiho Shibata; "CITES" by Nikolas Sellheim and Akiho Shibata; and "Japan" by Akiho Shibata.

A report by an early-career scholar and the YouTube videos are available for July 31 JSPS Core-to-Core Program Kick-Off Seminar on “Strengthening the Transparency of the Antarctic Treaty System”.