Arctic Yearbook 2015 | Page 29

29 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