ABSTRACT
Since the end of the Cold War, the governments and peoples of the Arctic have increasingly engaged in a range of co-operative activities designed to address issues of shared concern and to raise the profile of the Arctic as a political and geographical region. The subsequent proliferation of activities aimed at promoting stable and ongoing co-operation in the far North has to do with the Arctic being a relatively secure source of non-renewable resources (oil, gas and minerals), awareness of the heightened impact of global environmental problems (such as global warming and trans-boundary pollutants) on the Arctic environment, and the increasing politicization of the Arctic indigenous peoples.1
