When launching the Act for Arctic campaign last May, we tried something that we hadn’t tried before: we asked people all around the world to take a stand in their communities to help lift the call for Arctic protection. Their mission: asking high profile public figures from priests to politicians, and from artists to astronauts, to sign the Arctic Declaration - a document demanding strong political action from Arctic decision makers to keep oil rigs and industrial scale trawlers out of the Arctic ocean, and for an Arctic Sanctuary in the International waters around the North Pole.
Since then, thousands of people from across the globe gathered the courage to help make an ambitious idea become reality. Concerned citizens turned into Community Campaigners, dedicating their time and energy to gather powerful voices for the Arctic. Today, the list of signatories to the Arctic Declaration counts more than 1,800 names.
Most of these signatories were recruited by people like Margareta, a teacher, mother and grandmother - and Act for Arctic Community Campaigner. Jane Goodall, primatologist, anthropologist, considered one of the world’s leading experts on chimpanzees, and UN Messenger of Peace, was one of many amazing people Margareta was able to sign on for the Arctic cause. Meanwhile in Canada, Community Campaigner Inderjit reached out to the famous professor and author, Noam Chomsky, who happily agreed to add his voice to global call for Arctic protection.
In Spain, parliamentarians of the regional parliament in Navarra agreed to talk to a small group of Act for Arctic Community Campaigners to learn more about the Arctic, and about their possibilities to take a stand for Arctic protection. It was only hours later that the campaigners’ effort was rewarded by the message that the Parliament of Navarra unanimously signed on the to Arctic Declaration.
The courage and dedication of Community Campaigners, paired with the influence of the many high level Arctic Declaration signatories, made this document a powerful reflection of the common wish to see the Arctic protected, shared by millions across the globe.
In fact, it made the Arctic Declaration so strong, that in September 2014, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon invited a small Act for Arctic delegation to New York to talk about Arctic protection, and to receive the Arctic Declaration with its long and impactful list of signatories.
Ban Ki-moon receives a Greenpeace delegation. The UN Secretary General is presented with the Arctic Declaration, and a sphere full of 6 million drops of arctic meltwater, representing the six million signature petition calling for long term protection of the Arctic region.
The Arctic Declaration also laid the foundation for the EU Arctic Dialogue, held on March 4 2015, close to Brussels in Belgium. Important Arctic decision makers, such as the Foreign Ministers of Finland and Iceland, the President of the Finnish Sami Parliament, and the EU Commissioner for the Environment discussed environmental governance solutions for the Arctic region and specifically about the role of the new EU Arctic policy, which is due later this year. Presented with the Arctic Declaration, signed by political, cultural and business leaders from around the world, Commissioner Vella promised to take this declaration seriously, said that the Arctic demands our immediate attention, and emphasised the EU’s firm commitment to the Arctic.
The latest delivery of the Arctic Declaration happened just one week ago: shortly before the Foreign Ministers of the Arctic states set off to the bi-annual Arctic Council ministerial, which took place last Friday in the city Iqaluit, Nunavut in Canada’s North, they received a framed copy of the Arctic Declaration with the long list of signatories, and delivered with a letter authored by seven Act for Arctic Community Campaigners. In their letter, the campaigners urged ministers to read the Arctic Declaration carefully and do everything within their power to steer us towards a fairer, greener future for the Arctic and for the world.
Canadian Act for Arctic Community Campaigner Brett Hodnett delivers a framed copy of the Arctic Declaration and the more than 1,800 strong list of signatories to Canada’s Minister of the Environment
This latest delivery of the Arctic Declaration to the most important Arctic decision makers marked the closure of Act for Arctic - a truly inspiring project that harnessed the dedication of a global movement for Arctic protection, gathered hundreds of powerful voices from political, cultural, and business leaders, and channelled the overwhelming global demand for protecting the top of the world to those in power - those politicians who can make an Arctic Sanctuary become reality.
While the Act for Arctic project closes now, the global movement to save the Arctic is growing stronger day by day. Our eyes turn towards Shell’s planned Arctic Drilling operations off the coast of Alaska this summer - we know that it will take all of us, all of our creativity and energy to keep Shell’s oil rigs out of the Arctic Ocean.
Act for Arctic Community Campaigners: Thank you for all you did! Now, let’s turn up the heat on Shell! To stay connected and be the first to know about what’s coming next, sign up to www.SaveTheArctic.org