Policy background
Senior Arctic Officials of the Arctic Council reported to Ministers on the work on the climate impacts carried out by the Arctic Council during Iceland's Chairmanship in response to the Minister's declarations at the October 2002 Ministerial Meeting in Inari, Finland. The text of their report is as follows:
The Role of the Arctic Council
Based on the findings of the ACIA, there is a need for the Arctic Council and its subsidiary bodies to further organize their work. Therefore, SAOs recommend to Ministers to:
- Direct relevant technical working groups of the Arctic Council to review the scientific chapters of the ACIA in the context of their ongoing and future work programmes and to report on the progress made at the 2006 Ministerial Meeting.
- Decide to keep under review the need for an updated assessment of climate change in the Arctic, drawing inter alia on the IPCC fourth assessment report and the results of the International Polar Year 2007-2009.
- Direct SAOs to nominate a focal point, to be responsible for an ACIA follow up, including an assessment of gaps in knowledge.
- Communicate as appropriate, any Arctic Council ACIA follow-up actions to the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC.