CLIMATE CHANGE, SECURITY, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES: FROM SVALBARD TO HELSINKI

In 2004, NATO PA members focused their attention on security and environmental challenges in the Arctic during a special two-day seminar held in Spitzbergen at the University Centre of Svalbard. Members were presented with compelling evidence that the fragile Arctic environment is of global interest for a number of strategic, economic and environmental reasons, and that it faces a multiplicity of threats.
 
Since then, the Assembly has maintained a strong interest in the region, primarily through the work of the Science and Technology Committee (STC).

 Indeed, since 2005, the STC has adopted a number of recommendations and reports on the subject: “Climate Change in the Arctic and Challenges for the North Atlantic Community” (2005); “Climate Change: Thinking beyond Kyoto ” (2007), “Climate Change and Global Security” (2009).  A new report on "Climate Change: Post-Copenhagen Challenges” will be presented at the Assembly's Spring Session in Riga this May.

 The STC is not the only Committee studying these issues. In Riga, the Defence and Security Committee (DSC) will present a report entitled “Security at the Top of the World: Is there a Role for NATO in the High North?” while recent environmental disasters, such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, will be discussed during the forth-coming joint visit of the Political Committee (PC) and the Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security (CDS) in the United States. Climate change also features in the activities of the Sub-Committee on Transatlantic Economic Relations (ESCTER), currently focusing more closely on Development Assistance in a Climatic Perspective and Perspectives on the Future of Off-Shore / Continental Shelf Energy Resources.
 
More generally, as the concept of security itself is broadening and becoming more complex, NATO parliamentarians support the notion that climate change must occupy an important place on the Alliance ’s agenda and be included in the new NATO Strategic Concept.

In order to keep raising parliamentary awareness and expertise on these matters, the Assembly will hold its 74th Rose-Roth Seminar, together with the Economics and Security Committee, and hosted by the parliament of Finland in Helsinki from 17 to 19 June. This Seminar will focus on a range of issues including Security Challenges in the High North, Nordic Views on National Defence, Evolving Finnish and Swedish Relations with NATO, the Regional Relationship with the Russian Federation, Economic Prospects for the Nordic-Baltic Region, Nordic and Baltic Regional Integration, and Environment Challenges.