Announcing Fall 2010 Symposium: Arctic Governance

The NYU Journal of International Law and Politics is pleased to announce its upcoming symposium on the topic of arctic governance.  The date is set for October 22, 2010.  More information can be found at the Symposium page, above.

The Arctic is an emerging and exciting field of international legal scholarship, and JILP is excited to participate in this discussion.  The annual conference of the Canadian Council on International Law will also address this topic, as did a recent conference at the Université Laval.  In early 2011, Michael Byers of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver will give a session on “Security in the Arctic” at the Hague Seminar on Advanced Studies in Public and Private International Law.  Recently in the legal blogosphere, James Harrison has explained proposed Canadian regulations on passage through Arctic waters,  and Julian Ku discussed the relevance of the UNCLOS to current Arctic disputes.  Below is the official announcement for our symposium:

The United States is one of eight nations with territory above the Arctic Circle, a distinction that meant relatively little until the last decade.  But melting sea ice has thrust these previously unnavigable and commercially inaccessible waters into a series of legal, political, and environmental disputes, which are expected to intensify in the years ahead.  On October 22^nd, NYU’s Journal of International Law and Politics and Environmental Law Journal will host “On Thin Ice: International Law and Environmental Protection in a Melting Arctic.”  This multi-disciplinary conference will include leading scientists, legal scholars, and practitioners in order to explore the current and projected impacts on the natural environment, legal framework, and commercial interests, as well as how to ensure sustainable development.  The Journal of International Law and Politics and the Environmental Law Journal will publish papers resulting from the conference.