When the Arctic Council leadership passes from the United States to Finland in May, will President Donald Trump and his
denial of climate change pose problems for the eight-nation body and its work to protect the circumpolar environment?
Probably not, says a Finnish official involved in the Arctic Council. writes ADN.com making an interview with René Söderman
Senior Adviser at Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Spirit of Partnership
For example, a spirit of Arctic partnership in the council has prevailed despite seething global tensions over Russia’s annexation
of Crimea, its role in Ukraine unrest and its military actions in support of Syria’s Assad regime, said René Söderman, a senior
adviser for Arctic affairs at the Finnish foreign ministry and one of the leaders of the Finnish delegation to the Arctic Council.
Those factors «could all affect Arctic cooperation, but they haven’t,» Söderman said. The United States and Russia have put
aside the differences they have on non-Arctic issues, he said. «We feel that the U.S. has been very pragmatic and the Russians
have been very cooperative within the Arctic Council,» he said. Rene Søderman startet som journalist i næringsivsavissen Kauppalehti i Helsinki
Such Arctic cooperation will likely continue under the Trump administration, he said. The Arctic nations have common interests
in promoting environmental protection, sustained development and better living conditions for people in the Arctic, he said.
«Those issues don’t know any borders,» he said.
Paris Climate Agreement
Söderman spoke during a break during this week’s three-day meeting in Juneau of the Arctic Council’s Senior Arctic Officials.
It is one of the last official Arctic Council events in the two-year U.S. chairmanship term, which under Obama administration
leadership placed heavy emphasis on addressing Arctic climate change. Finland’s chairmanship plan does the same. One high
priority in the Finnish program is the 2015 Paris climate agreement and figuring out how the Arctic nations will abide by it and
take action to accomplish its goals.
Pull the US out
President Donald Trump has vowed, at various times, to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement. But Söderman said
he is not worried about that happening soon. «The U.S., like Finland and all of the other countries in the Arctic Council, are
signatories and have ratified the climate accord,» he said. Once in the agreement, a country is bound to it, at least for the
immediate future, he said. «You cannot get out of the climate agreement. It doesn’t happen overnight.» Still, it remains unclear
how Trump’s rhetoric will translate into action on climate change, an issue «of the utmost importance» to the Arctic nations,
Söderman said.»We don’t know the U.S. climate policy yet. Nobody knows,» he said. He has been Finnish Council in Los Angeles and Press Officer at the Finnish Embassy in Oslo.
(Source: Author: Yereth Rosen, Alaska Dispatch News)
