United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force on March 21, 1994. The Convention provides a framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle climate change and enjoys membership from 192 countries.  All eight Arctic nations are party to the Convention, with all but Finland (which has accepted) having ratified the Convention.  Therefore, the Convention is well-suited to provide guidance on a framework for intergovernmental environmental stewardship efforts in the Arctic.

In the mid-1990s, the Convention became the forum at which the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in an attempt to establish legally binding limits on developed countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2005, the Convention has met jointly with members of the Protocol and Convention members have been permitted to act as observers on Protocol matters if they are not party to the Protocol.  This is an important precedent for broad international involvement on climate change policy in a cross-organizational forum and provides a good model for non-Arctic states to have a voice in shaping an Arctic environmental regime system. Incorporating meetings of an Arctic environmental stewardship organization into the Convention, where other nations could act as observers, would be a sign of accountability and transparency on the part of the eight Arctic nations.