| Summary: | Created as part of the 2016 Jackson School for International Studies SIS 495: Task Force. We, the 2016 Arctic Task Force Team, have written this report in anticipation of the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the Arctic Council in the fall of this year. Through an in-depth analysis of the history and current state of Arctic Council governance, we seek to evaluate the short-comings and successes of Arctic policy and practice and produce a renewed vision for the future of Arctic governance, so that the next twenty years have the potential to be even more impactful. While there are a multitude of important topics and issues related to current Arctic affairs, we have chosen to report on eleven that we deem in need of immediate addressing. This report is organized in the following manner: Part I will discuss the impact and mitigation of climate change in the Arctic, focusing on the history and current state of resource extraction (Chapter 1), the effects of black carbon and methane pollution (Chapter 2), and the climate-induced displacement of Arctic communities (Chapter 3). Part II will discuss the capacity-building of Indigenous peoples in the Arctic, focusing on the promotion of food security for Inuit communities (Chapter 4), mental wellness and resilience (Chapter 5), and educational opportunities for Indigenous youth (Chapter 6). Part III will discuss the developing economic and legal structure of the Arctic, focusing on the analysis of economic development policies in the Far North (Chapter 7) and the future for international maritime law in the Arctic Ocean (Chapter 8). Part IV will discuss the future of security and cooperation in the Arctic, focusing on geopolitics and the Arctic security dilemma (Chapter 9) and search and rescue cooperation (Chapter 10). Part V will discuss the future of the Arctic Council, specifically how the Council can be reformed in order to adapt to the changing global dynamics of the North (Chapter 11).
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