Arctic Council Focuses on Biodiversity
Representatives of the eight Arctic States and six indigenous Permanent Participant organizations, as well as the Arctic Council’s six Working Groups and more than thirty Observers, met in Rovaniemi, Finland last week. The Council focused its thematic discussion on biodiversity in the Arctic and welcomed updates from the six Working Groups, two Task Forces, and one Expert Group, as well as interventions from Observers. During the biodiversity discussion Working Groups presented their ongoing efforts to advance biodiversity conservation, inform policy, and engage the public.In addition, Iceland presented a preliminary plan for their upcoming Chairmanship program (2019-2021).Ambassador Aleksi Härkönen…
Finland Has the Arctic Maritime Technology Edge: Arctia CEO
According to CEO Tero Vauraste of Arctia Shipping, who spoke at a recent Arctic research seminar at the University of Turku, Finland has great potential in the maritime technology of the arctic region. The University says that Vauraste sees three trump cards in the Finnish arctic strategy from the point of view of business and investment policy: maritime technology, mining and tourism. At the moment, there are about a hundred icebreakers in the world and 60 of them were built in Finland. Most of the current icebreakers are rather old and it has been estimated that in the next few years there will be a need for even 150 new icebreakers. Finland has great potential and technological know-how in the icebreaker business.
