In August and September 2002 representatives of the worlds nations accompanied by representatives of civil society met in Johannesburg, South Africa to assess progress on sustainable development since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. We worked with federal agencies to develop material on the Arctic Council, the Nunavut Agreement and the Convention for Biological Diversity, the POPs Convention, and sustainable Inuit renewable industries for Canada to use. As well, we attended the summit preparatory conferences at the UN in New York with the aim of putting the Arctic on the global agenda. In the last ten years the Arctic has come to be seen as an indicator region for the globes environmental health. We attempted to this status was formally acknowledged in the work plan and political declaration to be signed by heads of governments in Johannesburg.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Jose Kusugak, Violet Ford, Veronica Dewar, Natan Obed, Stephen Hendrie and Stephanie Meakin attended the World Summit in Johannesburg August -September 4, 2003. Sheila and Violet were members of Canada’s Delegation. Although the Summit was a difficult meeting in many ways (there were over 40,000 participants) ICC/ITK presented four case studies in various venues. The four case studies included presentations on:
The Arctic Council as an example of a circumpolar/ multilateral body;
Marine Mammal Use (in cooperation with ITK) which outlined the issue of subsistence consumption and use and the political and animal rights challenges facing Inuit;
Nunavut and the Convention on Biological Diversity as an example of a self government agreement and the legislative responsibilities for international activities; and
The 2001 Stockholm POPs Convention
Sheila also presented the Inuit perspective on climate change as part of an Arctic Council sponsored activity. Sheila and Violet met briefly with the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister in his plenary address noted the special and unique circumstances facing Inuit because of climate change. Many new contacts were made and interest in Inuit and issues and culture was highlighted through the presentations and ITKs cultural Kiosk within the Canadian pavilion.
An Arctic Clause for Inclusion in the Johannesburg Political Declaration
As a result of climate change and long-range transport of certain chemicals, the circumpolar Arctic has emerged since the 1992 Earth Summit as an indicator region of global environmental health. As such, we acknowledge the environmental protection and sustainable development work of the eight-state Arctic Council, aided by Arctic Indigenous people, and encourage further comprehensive environmental monitoring in this region.