Arctic Council

The Arctic Council was established in 1996 and succeeded the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy. It is a high-level intergovernmental forum that provides a mechanism to address the common concerns and challenges faced by the Arctic Governments and the Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic. The members of the Arctic Council are Canada, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States of America.

The Permanent Participants of the Arctic Council are:• Aleut International Association (AIA) • Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC) • Gwich’in Council International (GCI) • Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) • Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) • Saami Council

Observer status in the Arctic Council is open to Non-arctic states, inter-governmental and interparliamentary organizations, global and regional non-governmental organizations.