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Current Issues.
How should we handle the interplay between global
but functionally specific arrangements and regional but functionally
broad arrangements in the Arctic? |
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Like other regions, the Arctic is
linked to events unfolding in other parts of the world through a
variety of increasingly complex relations. Some of the links are
biophysical, as in cases like birds and animals that migrate to
the mid-latitudes for a portion of the year or airborne and waterborne
pollutants that flow toward the Arctic from their places of origin
in the mid-latitudes. Other links are more socioeconomic and political
in nature, as in cases like southern actions that disrupt markets
for northern products such as sealskins or furs harvested through
the use of leghold traps [18]. A
particularly significant set of institutional links are those arising
when global arrangements aimed at specific problems like the conservation
of whales or the protection of the stratospheric ozone layer interact
with regional/subregional arrangements addressing a wide range of
concerns like the Arctic Council or the BEAR. Handled properly the
resultant institutional interplay can prove mutually beneficial;
representatives of regional arrangements can be granted a voice
in global forums, and regional arrangements can play useful rules
in implementing the rules and decisions of global regimes. At the
same time, it is apparent that there is considerable scope for the
occurrence of disconnects and even outright conflicts in this realm.
The rapid growth of regional arrangements in the high latitudes
has brought this issue into focus with regard to the Circumpolar
North. Dealing with it constructively should be a priority for the
next decade. |
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