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Arctic Yearbook 2015
2015
13th – Greenpeace and designer Vivienne Westwood launch a “Save the Arctic” celebrity
campaign selling designer t-shirts for $115 to raise funds for the Amsterdam-based
environmental organization.
16th – The five Arctic littoral states – Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United
States, known as the Arctic 5, sign an agreement to combat unregulated fishing in the Arctic
Ocean. It prevents fishermen from their countries from fishing in the international waters of
the central Arctic Ocean. The Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs subsequently called in
the Arctic 5 Ambassadors to express its concern on being excluded from those negotiations.
21st – Inuvialuit sign a self-government agreement-in-principle with the governments of the
Northwest Territories and Canada.
July
22nd – Shell receives final approval from the Obama Administration for exploratory drilling
in the Chukchi Sea in 2015, after receiving preliminary approval in May.
31st – The European Union (EU) formally approves the Government of Nunavut as a
Recognized Body under the Indigenous Communities Exemption of the EU Seal Regime,
which means that the Government of Nunavut will be able to certify sealskins as having been
harvested according to the rules of the exemption. The EU seal ban issue had previously
been cited by Canada as the reason for their objection to EU Observer status at the Arctic
Council.
31st – The Northwest Territory Métis Nation sign a land and resources agreement-inprinciple with the governments of the Northwest Territories and Canada.
3rd – Russia provides a revised submission on its Arctic Ocean extended shelf to the UN
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, claiming over 1.2 million km2.
8th – House Bill 1, Alaska's Arctic Policy, legally went into effect August 8, 2015 under Alaska
Statute 44.99.105.
August
13th – Ambassador Mark Brzezinski is appointed Executive Director of the US
Government’s Arctic Executive Steering Committee.
31st – GLACIER (Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation,
Engagement and Resilience) is held in Anchorage with participation from US President
Obama to build momentum for ambitious action at COP-21 (UNFCCC meeting on climate
change in Paris, December 2015). Although taking place during the US Arctic Council
Chairmanship, the event is not affiliated with that forum.
2015 Year in Review