Conclusion

One can hardly avoid the feeling that the development of the Espoo Convention in

the Arctic has not been as speedy as might have been inferred from the results of the

meetings of both the signatories to the Espoo Convention and parties to the Arctic

cooperation process. When the Espoo Convention was concluded in 1991, it

contained great promise for managing situations of potential transboundary pollution

caused by large-scale stationary activities in the Arctic; this optimism derived from

the fact that all eight Arctic states signed the Convention. Moreover, Arctic

cooperation promoted from the very beginning the ratification o f the Convention by

the Arctic states as well as the adaptation of the Espoo Convention to Arctic • 1292circumstances.