At the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Tromsø in April 2009, the chairmanship of the council was passed on from Norway to Denmark. Denmark, at the end of its term in 2011, will in its turn pass the chairmanship on to Sweden that will thus take the suite of Scandinavian Arctic Council Chairs to its completion in 2013. In their common programme, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden in 2007 stressed the need for applying an integrated, sustainable, and ecosystem-based approach to the use of Arctic resources, all of which concerns, according to the programme, might be comprised within a holistic perspective. And the needs of Arctic communities and indigenous peoples is clearly seen as falling within a such perspective. The Danish chairmanship, in its own program, likewise evokes a holistic perspective to comprise a complex of concerns about environmental protection, conservation of Arctic flora and fauna, and the preservation of the livelihoods of indigenous peoples and Arctic communities that, the programme states, remains at the core of the work of the Arctic Council. Thus, on the one hand, the Chair recognises the centrality of indigenous peoples' needs and rights, via the category of Permanents Participants, to the idea of the Arctic Council; yet, on the other hand, like in the Danish programme, the council is cautious to speak not only of indigenous peoples, but also of local people, and to speak not only of people(s), but also of communities and residents. Conversely, the indigenous peoples' organisations that are permanents participant in the Arctic Council also cautiously stress that they - as is the case with the Arctic States - are much more than that and that they partake actively in international processes and initiatives in their own right and outside of the auspices of the Arctic Council.
  
Climate change A clear-cut example of this could be seen in connection with COP15 in Copenhagen in December last year. The Arctic Council Chair announced that no consensus could be reached with respect to having the Arctic Council itself apply for accreditation as an observer to the COP15 and, consequently, the Arctic Council would not formally take part in it. At the same time, most of the Arctic indigenous peoples' organisations were already accredited as observers to the UN climate negotiations system. In 2008, the Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat (IPS) and the six Permanent Participants organised and took part in a climate change adaptation workshop financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The proceedings from this workshop formed part of the input to the Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change that was held in Anchorage in April, 2009. And, notwithstanding its not especially unified character, the declaration resulting from the Summit formed part of the indigenous peoples' input to the climate negotiations meeting leading up to and to the COP15 itself. Although not being formally a participant, the Arctic Council contributed indirectly to the Copenhagen conference as reports on and films about one of its projects, the "Arctic Cryosphere project - Snow, Water, Ice, and Permafrost in the Arctic" was featured in a COP15 side event, viz., the "Melting Ice" event organised by Norway, Denmark, and former vice-President of the United States of America, Al Gore. Two permanent participants, the Inuit Circumpolar Council and the Arctic Athabaskan Council, were each granted a side event slot at the COP15 venue, and each of these events was eventually affected by the logistical problems that in different ways marked the course of events in December 2009. Some 40,000 participants and accredited observers had come to Copenhagen for the conference, and as the official venue, the Bella Centre, had a maximum capacity of around 15,000, and with no clear and transparent access regulations in place, with people standing in endless lines outside the venue, waiting in vain to be let in, the often chaotic outcome was in reality predictable. The mood of growing discontent and despair among observers left outside in the cold no doubt mirrored that of most negotiators inside the venue at the official plenary meetings as the conference drew towards its close with only a disappointing and inconclusive Copenhagen Accord to show for itself and the world.

The Arctic and the Globe Just as the stakeholders of the Arctic Council have eagerly sought to bring their concerns to and imprint the global climate negotiations, so an increasing international focus on Arctic issues - spurred by the facts, the threats and new opportunities of climate change - is making itself felt, and applications from non-Arctic states and organisations for observer status at the Arctic Council keep ticking in. The official consensus reached by the Arctic Council is to consider Observers and Observer applicants assets to the work of the council, and that ways should be found to further the Observers' involvement in and contributions to the strivings of the council to promote sustainable development for its member states and for peoples of the Arctic. The Danish chairmanship has stated that, in this process of increasing international interest, increasing importance, and increasing work load of the council, the Permanent Participants category's unique contribution must be safeguarded and strengthened, thereby implying that the growing number and influence of Observers might potentially shift the established and prescribed role of the Permanent Participants within the council. The Permanent Participants, along with the Arctic Council state members, have engaged themselves deeply in the work with assessing applicants as well as in the work with revising criteria for granting Observer status. Thus, the Permanent Participants have objected to applicants that have not adequately stated and described their intentions to work with the Permanents Participants. To sum up, the Permanent Participants seem to be up against challenges related to the globalisation, to the demands for an ever increasing awareness of the interrelatedness of Arctic and global environmental processes, and to the ever increasing need for transcending the Arctic scene and attend various Conferences of Parties, the next of which will be the that of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Japan, October 2010. The challenge, not least and as seen from an observational, yet deeply engaged stance consists in finding ways to redefine the being and processes of indigenous living in relation to other processes of linking regional, Arctic issues and concerns to the corresponding global ones, in such a way as to avoid the predicament of being exclusively linked to concerns of conservation and preservation of natural diversity, and so as to allow space for operating in terms of cultural, ethnical, and socio-economic developments and concerns and to not have these confused with those of natural science.

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This article will appear as a chapter on the Arctic Council in IWGIA's "The Indigenous World 2010" yearbook

IPS' list of COP15 side events and parallel events organised by, involving or of relevance to Arctic and Indigenous Peoples:

5-6 December, IIPFCC (Indigenous Caucus) preparatory meeting; EEA, Kongens Nytorv 6.

7 December, 16:00, WWF Arctic Tent, Youth Day, Presentation by Arctic members of Canadian Youth Delegation, Nytorv.

8 December, 16:30, WWF Arctic Tent, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Nytorv.

10 December, 10:00 - 12:00, Foreningen NORDENs Ungdom, Arktiske folk om klimaet (The climate according to Arctic Peoples), People’s Climate Forum, DGI-byen (by the Main Central Station), Venue 3.

10 December, 18:00: “Making the Declaration Work”, IWGIA book launch, Danish Polar Centre, Strandgade 102.

12 December,12:00 – 13:00, Opening of the Riddu Riddu Lavvu, Presentation of the Ealát project featuring Dr. Robert Corell and Saami youth, the World Reindeer Herders Association and International Center for Reindeer Husbandry, North Atlantic Qua

12 December, 12:00, Opening of the Greenland Representation In the Eye of Climate Change exhibition, North Atlantic House, Strandgade 91.

12 December, 12:00, Opening of the Arctic Venue, organised by the Danish Energy Agency, North Atlantic House, Strandgade 91.

12 December, 10:00 – 20:00, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, organised by IWGIA/Tebtebba, Danish National Museum, Ny Vestergade 10.

12 December, 20:00 - 21.30: Inuit Circumpolar Council side event at the COP15 venue, Using Inuit (indigenous) traditional knowledge in climate change decision making, Bella Center, Niels Bohr room.

13 December, 12:00, Arctic Venue breakout event, the Riddu Riddu Lavvu, North Atlantic Quay.

14 December, 13:00 - 14:30: Danish/Norwegian/Melting Ice side event at the COP15 venue, Melting snow and ice: A call for action, Bella Center, Niels Bohr room.

14 December, 16:00, Saami/Greenlandic performance mixing Joik singing and mask dancing, the Riddu Riddu Lavvu, North Atlantic Quay.

15 December, 15:00, Saami/Greenlandic performance mixing Joik singing and mask dancing, the Riddu Riddu Lavvu, North Atlantic Quay.

16 December, 11:00 - 15:00, Inuit Circumpolar Council parallel event at the Arctic Venue, Inuit and Arctic Indigenous Peoples' Day, North Atlantic House.

16 December, 12:15, Saami/Greenlandic performance mixing Joik singing and mask dancing, the Riddu Riddu Lavvu, North Atlantic Quay.

17 December, 14:45 - 16:15: Arctic Athabaskan Council side event at the COP15 venue, Caribou, people and resiliency in Arctic North America, Bella Center, Victor Borge room.

The 15th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change opened on Monday, 7 December 2009. Concurrently with COP15, the 5th session of the Kyoto Protocol parties (CMP5) as well as sessions of Subsidiary Bodies and Ad Hoc Working Groups also take place in the Bella Centre.

 With the announcement of U.S. President Obama that he will attend toward the end of the conference, the whole discourse on the climate negotiations and the possibility of reaching a renewed international agreement shifted from a pessimistic to an optimistic note. Suddenly, the prospect of merely reaching a political declaration instead of sealing a binding deal was described by commentators as not such a bad result after all. A few days later, the leaking of the so-called Danish Text made the new-found spirit of optimism evaporate and brought the climate summit into disarray. The leaked text, to paraphrase outraged developing countries, is a blatant expression of rich countries covert machinations – within the so-called ”circle of commitment” - to shift the balance of obligations in their own favour and abandon the Kyoto Protocol’s principle of historical debt. Perhaps these lightning fast developments testify to the catastrophic nature, not so much of climate change itself, but rather of the ways in which it is being dealt with. The Danish COP15 organisers and the UNFCCC secretariat expect more than 15.000 delegates of the approximately 200 parties to the convention and the more than a thousand organisations admitted as observers. 14.000 are expected to be nominees of observer organisations alone while approximately 3500 journalists have been accredited to the conference. This means that the Bella Centre will be reaching its absolute maximum capacity should all participants decide to be present at the premises at the same time. The UNFCCC secretariat has announced that a system will be set up to monitor and regulate the participation of each organisation.
Outside of the conference venue itself, clustered around the city centre, numerous parallel events are taking place. On the North Atlantic Quay area, the Riddu Riddu Indigenous Peoples Festival has put up a huge laavu, i.e. a traditional Saami tent, that will serve as a venue for various events and performances, e.g., a Saami/Greenlandic group giving a performance that mixes Saami Joik singing with Greenlandic mask dancing. The Riddu Riddu Lavvu organizers invite Indigenous COP15 delegates to use the lavvu for their own events. If you are interested in using the Riddu Riddu Laavu for an event, you can contact and coordinate with the Indigenous Peoples Secretariat. In the adjacent North Atlantic Building, two exhibitions, ”In the Eye of Climate Change” and the ”Arctic Venue” organised by the Greenland Government and the Danish Energy Agency, respectively, will be open to the public during the COP period. Both of these events opens on Saturday, 12 December, while a closed preview of the former attended by his Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik will take place the day before that. In the DGI town near the main central station, the Peoples’ Climate Forum have organised an event that almost matches the COP itself with respect to extent of programme and number of participants. The outcome of the various workshops, panel discussions etc. that make up the PCF will be a declaration expressing the hopes, ideas, and visions of citizens groups and social movements from all corners of the planet. In one of the central city squares, Nytorv, WWF has set up their Arctic Tent which aims at giving the people of Copenhagen and COP delegates a taste of the Arctic by having scientists youth, Indigenous Peoples, politicians, artists, and adventurers present various views on the theme of Climate Change mitigation. From an Indigenous perspective, perhaps the busiest time will be the weekend in between the two COP weeks, in particular Saturday, 12 December. In addition to the above-mentioned activities on the North Atlantic Quay, the IWGIA/Tebtebba organized Indigenous Day panel discussion event will be held during daytime in the Danish National Museum, whereas in the evening of that same day, the Inuit Circumpolar Council will be hosting a side event, i.e. inside the COP15 venue in the Bella Centre, on Traditional Knowledge in Climate Change Decision Making.

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Warming up to the Copenhagen COP15 in December, the North Atlantic House has shrouded itself in an icy garment. A translucent screen imprinted with photographic reproductions of ice covers the waterfront end of the building, giving the appearance from a distance that it has rammed into and is being engulfed by a towering iceberg. The 21 meters high and approximately 4000 square meter installation entitled ”The Tip of the Iceberg” is the work of artist Inuk Silis Høegh. It was inaugurated on Friday 20 November in an event that took place outside the North Atlantic House and included speeches by the Icelandic ambassador to Denmark Svavar Gestsson and head of the Faroese Representation Herálvur Joensen, followed by handing of flowers to the artist and serving of hot drinks steaming between hands in the cooling late afternoon November air. In the fading daylight, projectors illuminated the installation from below and the appurtenant soundtrack began playing gentle sounds of ice sighing, cracking, being lapped by waves, and melting, dripping and trickling. And so the installation or the strange - part iceberg, part warehouse - edifice conveyed its double message to the people gathered on the pier, that of a majestic, invincible Arctic, and, at the same time, that of a fragile and threatened one. In a way, the renovated 18th century warehouse in itself sends out a similar kind of mixed and restless signals by being the pure product and a clear-cut symbol of colonial enterprise in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions that, however,  nowadays seems to have  been almost completely inverted and taken over by emissaries of the former colonies.



During COP15, it will host two parallel event venues, one of which is the Greenland Representation organised event entitled In the Eye of Climate Change, while the other is the Venue Arctic under the auspices of the Danish Energy Agency. Both comprise a number of exhibition stands, speeches, panel debates, workshops, and film screenings centring on the overall themes of climate change mitigation and adaptation, and on the various ways and discourses on how to relate to these issues. Independent of each other and yet coordinated, the two events seem to have agreed on a certain division of labour. The In the Eye of Climate Change event thus focuses on Greenlandic issues and applies a mainly socio-economic, and human interest angle, whereas the Arctic Venue programme weighs scientific, Arctic Council Working Group approaches. Both venues open to the public on Saturday 12 December. However, a closed vernissage of the Greenland Representation organised exhibition will take place the day before, on Friday 11 December. On this occasion, the official inauguration will be performed by his Majesty Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. Greenland Premier Kuupik Kleist will host the event that also features artistic performances as well as the serving of traditional Greenlandic food.

The first Senior Arctic Officials (SAO) meeting of the Arctic Council under the Danish Chairmanship was held in Copenhagen on November 12-13, 2009. Over 200 participants came together for two days of intensive discussions on a wide variety of issues important to the Arctic.
SAO Chair, Ambassador Lars Møller noted in his opening speech that there was a steadily increasing amount of activity in the Arctic. To address the huge challenges, Lars Møller said, the council brought with it from its previous ministerial meeting an ambitious agenda in the form of the Tromsø Declaration. The initial phase of the meeting, unorthodoxly, included the screening of working copies of two films presenting the AMAP organized Greenland Ice Sheet  (GRIS) and Arctic Cryosphere (SWIPA) projects. The GRIS film will also form part of a high profiled side event at the upcoming COP15 entitled Melting Snow and Ice to be attended by the Danish/Greenlandic and Norwegian foreign ministers as well as by former US vice-president and Oscar winner Al Gore. Apart from COP 15 and the SWIPA project, the SAO agenda comprised, i.a., discussions of the work with establishing new Task Forces on Search and Rescue and on Short-lived Climate Forcers, maintaining and strengthening observing and monitoring initiatives, and International Polar Year Legacy initiatives such as the The Oslo Science Conference to be held in June next year. The Aleut International Association Executive Director Victoria Gofman made a presentation of the Bering Sea Sub Network (BSSN) that was implemented by AIA as an International Polar Year project under the auspices of CAFF and with the participation of 6 indigenous Bering Strait communities. Thanks to a 3 million dollar grant from the US National Science Foundation, Ms. Gofman explained, Phase 2 of this project will be carried out during the next 5 years and will involve 10 communities on either side of the Bering Strait. Measures to identify potential gaps and to eliminate duplication of work were treated in a section dedicated to the effectiveness and efficiency of the Arctic Council. Various initiatives to strengthen the political role of the Arctic Council, enhance information exchange among the council’s stakeholders, and to develop guidelines for communication and outreach were presented by the chair during this section Japan was welcomed as an ad hoc observer of the Arctic Council. Japan has applied for permanent Observer status, however, until its application can be processed in connection with the next Ministerial meeting, it will join the existing group of Ad Hoc Observers to the Arctic Council. In the evening of the first SAO meeting day, Second Secretary at the Japanese Embassy in Copenhagen, Ms. Emi Mashiko, attended a meeting with the Permanent Participant to discuss how Japan as an Observer and the Permanent Participants can benefit from each other’s work within the Arctic Council. The meeting also saw status updates by and on a number of non-Arctic Council groups and projects such as the Danish Arctic Megatrends study, the Arctic Governance project, the 4 (i.e., Arctic, Barents, Baltic, and Nordic) Councils of the North, as well as the University of the Arctic. The next Arctic Council SAO Meeting will be held in Illulissat, Greenland on April 28-29, 2010.