Towards midnight on 27 June 1787, it was clear, serene and moonlit, Edward Gibbon, certainly the greatest historian of his own, and possibly of any other, era laid down his pen after having written the last lines of his masterpiece The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. He did this in the agreeable surroundings of the summer house in his garden at Lausanne overlooking the lake. He commented that his first emotion was the recovery of his freedom after so many years of unremitting labour but soon ‘a sober melancholy was spread over my mind by the idea that I had taken my everlasting leave’ of the ‘old and agreeable companion’ that his book had become to him over the years (Murray 1896: 333–334).

The Arctic provides one of the most striking signatures of climate change impacts. Accelerated loss of sea ice extent and thickness, loss in biodiversity, changing atmospheric circulation patterns, and melting permafrost portray only a few aspects of a rapidly changing Arctic. In recognition of the inter-, multi-, and trans-disciplinary (Keil 2015) discussions, tools, mechanisms, and implementation strategies necessary to address these challenging and pervasive issues of this century, the first Potsdam Summer School, entitled ‘Arctic in the Anthropocene’, took place in June–July, 2014. The summer school was coordinated by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and the University of Potsdam, in conjunction with the city of Potsdam. The principal vision of the summer school was to eliminate disciplinary language barriers, and to foster communication amongst individuals trained in law and international relations, public health, and science, with the goal of extending an integrated science-policy dialogue for the benefit of humanity, the planet that we inhabit, and for which we share a collective responsibility.

Recent records of increasing temperature, melting of sea-ice, retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, increasing sea levels, and increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events provide clear evidence of global climate change, particularly in the Arctic. The impacts of climate change are not only environmental, but also influence social, economic, psychological, and political conditions in the region. The confluence of these conditions emphasises the need for improved communication of climate information and formulation of ethical responses to address changes in the Arctic. This review explores the meaning of ethical communication followed by an overview of the barriers to ethical communication including uncertainties related to climate change, and constructions of varying interpretations of climate change due to discipline-specific perspectives of science, journalism, and law, in the Arctic. The final section of this paper summarises key elements of ethical communication, and integration of ethical principles in formulating decision-making strategies to address climate change in the Arctic.

This paper compares four maps produced by the Canadian government and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the indigenous peoples’ organisation representing Inuit living in the four recognised Inuit regions (Inuit Nunangat) of Canada. Our analysis is based on publicly available maps, documents, and records and extends the rich existing literature examining the history of definitions of the Canadian north. Distinctly, our research aims to understand the different ways in which the Arctic has been articulated as a geographic, political, and social region during the Harper government (2006–2015) and the effects these articulations have had on northern policy and people. We find that the federal government maintained a flexible definition of the Canadian Arctic as a region when in pursuit of its own policy objectives. However, when it comes to incorporating areas outside the boundaries of Canada's three federal territories, particularly communities along their southern fringes, those boundaries are inflexible. The people who live in these areas, which the state considers to be outside the Canadian Arctic, are marginalised within Arctic public policy in terms of access to federal funds, determination of land use, and a sense of social belonging to the Canadian Arctic. Our goal in this paper is to demonstrate that national-level disputes over what constitutes ‘the Arctic’ can significantly impact the day-to-day lives of people who live within and just outside the region, however it is conceived.

Contamination of snow cover has been investigated in the Longyearbyen (78°13 N, 15°38 E) and Barentsburg (78°3 N, 14°12 E) areas, which are situated in the southwest part of Spitsbergen (Svalbard archipelago). Snow cover was sampled in two winter seasons, 2012–2013 and 2013–2014, at 54 locations within potentially contaminated areas. Sampling incorporated the whole snow mass and was combined with morphological observations as well as thickness and density measurements. Meltwater and suspended solids were further analysed for a wide range of contaminants including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and macro-ions. Results were contrasted with previous studies measuring the release of contaminants from snow to soil cover. It was shown in keeping with earlier studies that PAH contributions are associated with airborne particulate matter. The results, in contrast to earlier studies further demonstrated that the high concentrations of contaminants in both settlements are attributed to local sources due to combustion and industrial activity.

The politics, economies, and ecology of the Arctic region are experiencing fundamental transformation driven largely by human-caused environmental change. Drawing on the work of Robert Cox, this article presents a critical account of environmental security that allows security issues in the Arctic to be reconceptualised. It outlines the environmental changes transforming the Arctic, and theorises the Arctic as a regional environmental security complex in which conditions of security for state and non-state referent objects are predicated on a particular ecological context. It then surveys state- and human security issues in the Arctic, and argues that environmental change has destabilised the ecological base on which the contemporary Arctic as a cooperative region supportive of human activity has been built. The article concludes by outlining alternative ways of conceiving of Arctic security that are more compatible with maintaining the region's ecological base, and suggests that dominant approaches to Arctic security are pathological because they remain premised on the control, extraction and consumption of hydrocarbon resources. It argues that, in the context of the geological Anthropocene, security cannot be sustainable if it fails to address the relationship between human wellbeing and human-caused environmental change, or informs practices that further contribute to environmental change.

In recent years, radical changes such as rapid warming and ice retreat have become evident in the Arctic region, as recognised by the scientific community, as well as Arctic and non-Arctic states. Against this background, where the Arctic is accumulating economic importance and geopolitical significance for Arctic states and international stakeholders, the main regional actors have engaged in increased cooperation efforts, which is in contrast to the often invoked talk about an imminent conflict or ‘race for resources in the region’. At the same time, modernisation and expansion of military activities and capabilities have been pursued by several Arctic states. While these measures cannot be exclusively attributed to a militarisation of the Arctic and require further discussion, a misperception of such actions may result in the destabilisation of regional cooperation efforts. Furthermore, when considered in a broader context, possible threats to peaceful coexistence in the Arctic are more likely to arise from the present global situation. For example, the invasion of Ukraine has provoked a partial shift in regional cooperation and an uncontrolled spillover effect of the conflict between Russia and Western countries could disrupt regional stability. Drawing on the perspective of International Relations (IR) literature, and considering the absence of a regional institution devoted to security issues, this article highlights the importance of adopting confidence- and security-building measures among all relevant actors in order to create a forum for the discussion of ‘hard’ security topics, to prevent any destabilising effect on Arctic cooperation and security. Such measures may be promoted within existing fora, primarily the Arctic Council.

Arctic ministers agreed at the latest 2015 Arctic Council ministerial meeting in Iqaluit to establish a ‘Task Force to assess future needs for a regional seas program or other mechanism, as appropriate, for increased cooperation in Arctic marine areas.’ Involving the Arctic Council in increased coordination of national marine management measures, and in drawing on experts from international organisations or treaty bodies to address related questions, is consistent with the longstanding advisory role of the Arctic Council. It also builds prudently on the council's emerging role as convener to accomplish discrete tasks critical to the health of the Arctic environment and the wellbeing of Arctic peoples. In order to strengthen Arctic marine cooperation and governance, the Arctic Council should adopt some instrument or arrangement through which it can more effectively coordinate among national management efforts affecting the Arctic marine environment and increase the effectiveness of the interplay with global governance mechanisms. The purpose of this commentary is to present World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) perspectives on two important dimensions of this proposal. First, the commentary is to review the arguments as to why a strong regional seas program for the Arctic is required. Second, it is to address a series of questions that arise in considering the design of a framework mechanism necessary to create the program. The paper will provide WWF's views with regards to the mandate and scope of a future cooperative mechanism, its relationship to the Arctic Council and membership, and its legal form.

This paper attempts to describe Consultative Parties’ (CPs) patterns of participation at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCM) during the 1998–2011 period. The results of this work show that a subset of the original signatories of the Antarctic Treaty exert the greatest political influence on ATCMs, and can therefore be seen as the main ‘propellers’ of the ATCM system. Although the performance of some of the non-original signatories is becoming increasingly consistent, the system still offers the appearance of being rather asymmetric and endogamic. In addition, a number of factors that might explain the patterns of participation observed are presented and discussed, as a contribution that may allow for achieving a more comprehensive picture of how the work of the ATCMs unfolds through time. The article concludes by presenting likely directions towards which future research on behavioural aspects of Antarctic policy making can be orientated.

During the so-called ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration (c.1897–1922), various parties of men invented songs to aid the act of sledging and to provide a mental diversion from the monotony of the task and the physical demands it made on the human body. Songs composed in this uniquely polar musical genre typically included rhyming lyrics that were highly motivational and expressed a united identity. The lyrics were usually set to the melodies of popular songs of the day. When voiced in unison by men out ‘on the march,’ sledging songs could help to promote team synchronisation and cohesion, and give the act of sledging (as well as the expeditions as a whole) a stronger sense of purpose and meaning. The singing of such songs, therefore, contributed in a very practical way to the overall success of many Antarctic expeditions of the ‘heroic age’. This article examines three sledging songs dating from this period of Antarctic exploration and investigates the historical context in which they were created and performed. It also considers what these songs reveal about the experiences of the men who participated in the sledging journeys and their earliest perceptions of the Antarctic environment.

During his lifetime and beyond, Brian Roberts was often thought to be the éminence grise of the UK's Antarctic policy and also of the founding of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. Documentary evidence of his influence has, however, been conspicuously absent, due in part to the closure of relevant files in the UK's National Archives. Using Roberts’ personal files in the archives of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, files in the UK National Archives that remained closed for 50 years but have recently been released, and the recollections of surviving contemporaries of Roberts, it has been possible to establish the extent of his involvement in the evolution of the treaty and to add new elements that may contribute towards a reconstruction of its complex history. From 1956 Roberts developed a productive relationship with the UK Foreign Office's Head of American Department Henry Hankey that enabled them to influence the UK policy on Antarctica and to make a significant contribution towards the political settlement represented by the treaty. For Roberts and his colleagues in the Foreign Office the main purpose of the treaty was not primarily the promotion of international scientific collaboration but was essentially a means of addressing a political situation that had become otherwise intractable.

Ian Whitaker (1928–2016). Dr. Ian (Rice) Whitaker (Fig. 1) died on 19 May 2016 at his home in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada. He was a Professor Emeritus from Simon Fraser University and a key anthropological authority on circumpolar peoples. His wife Martha, daughter Kythe, son Ronan and grandchildren Dana, Brittany and Devon survive him. He was born in Nottingham, United Kingdom on 4 July 1928 to Thomas Rice and Gertrude Whitaker (33rd Baroness de la Ville de Beuge) (Lumley 2007). After his initial education at the University of St. Andrews, he went on to earn a B.A. and M.A. at the University of Cambridge and a Dr. Phil. at the University of Oslo.