Jørgen Niclasen: Arctic on the threshold of change
Distinguished ministers, ladies and gentlemen
It is a pleasure for me to join my colleagues from Denmark and Greenland in introducing this special Nordic Conference on the Arctic. The Faroe Islands are proud to be an active part of both the Nordic family and the Arctic family. And I myself am proud to be the Faroese minster responsible for both.
The Faroe Islands are situated at the crossroads of Scandinavia and the High Arctic, between Northern Europe and North America. The North Atlantic is the source of our well-being and livelihood. In such a position, we not only value the cooperation we have with our neighbours in the High North, we see it as absolutely vital for peace and prosperity in the region.
“Arctic – Changing Realities” is the title of this Conference. In the Faroes we are on the threshold of change every day. We are a small island nation in the middle of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, with an economy heavily dependent on international trade in our fish products. Even the smallest changes can have enormous impacts on our way of life - changes in the climate and our natural resource base, and changes in the global economic climate.
Faroe Islanders have learnt to cope with change over centuries of island life in a harsh climate. We have learnt to navigate rough waters and adapt quickly to new economic realities. But being good at adapting also means recognising our own limits and looking to others for advice and inspiration, especially other nations and communities who share our realities and values. This is why we appreciate so much the cooperation we have in the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Arctic Council.
Our status as an autonomous territory has been fully recognised in the Nordic Council of Ministers. This allows for us in practice to participate on an equal footing with the other seven members of the Nordic family, in all areas of cooperation that are relevant for us. This year the Faroe Islands are chairing the Nordic Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture for the first time.
Formally speaking, the Arctic Council is limited to cooperation between States. But through our participation as a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Faroe Islands have opportunities on many levels to forge direct links and exchange valuable information and experiences first hand with our circumpolar colleagues. We wish to develop these links and opportunities more actively. We are also looking forward to welcoming the Senior Arctic Officials to Tórshavn for the first time in October for their autumn meeting.
I believe that what keeps both the Nordic and the Arctic cooperation dynamic and meaningful, is our strong common focus on the human dimension. We share important fundamental values as peoples living in the North, heavily dependent on nature and its resources. We in the Circumpolar North must work together to keep this focus strong.
Unfortunately we are seeing attempts to have the Arctic defined as some sort of wilderness park, which should be off limits to economic development. This ignores the rights of the people who live in the region. We are the ones who must set the course for our own future development. We certainly do not need to be told how important it is to take care of the environment on which we depend.
We should be calling more loudly on our international partners to get their priorities right. For example by spending more energy to stop the long-range pollution of our marine environment, rather than banning imports of high quality products from the sustainable hunting of seals.
It is obvious to me that the sea is the key to ensuring strong Nordic and Arctic linkages. The major challenges we face across the region relate to the oceans and seas that tie us together – the role of the ocean in the global climate, the changing distribution of shared fish stocks and access to new fishing areas, developing new forms of clean energy from the sea, and the challenges and opportunities that come with new shipping routes opening up across the Arctic, joining Europe with the Far East in a whole new way.
These are all issues we wish to explore more closely, both with our Nordic and with our Arctic partners. A strong focus on the oceans and sustainable use of the seas is in fact the Faroese contribution to Denmark’s Programme for the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers this year.
So let me end my opening remarks at this Conference, by inviting you all to another one. To promote and strengthen the Nordic focus on oceans, the Faroe Islands are hosting the Conference called Seas the Future in the first week of October in Tórshavn. I firmly believe this will be a timely opportunity for us to explore the cross-cutting issues we have in common in the Nordic and Arctic cooperation - with the sea as our common platform.
Dear colleagues, the focus here today is on changing realities. Life belongs to the living, and we who live must be prepared for change. That is the reality we share in the High North. Thank you.
