The Arctic Council marks a special occasion on 23 May 2018 as the "Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation," signed in May 2017, enters into force.

After three years of work, the Arctic Council’s Task Force for Enhancing Scientific Cooperation in the Arctic (SCTF) reached ad referendum agreement on a new “Agreement on Enhancing Arctic Scientific Cooperation."

The Arctic Council’s Task Force for Enhancing Scientific Cooperation in the Arctic (SCTF) met on 1-2 December 2015 in Reykjavik, Iceland. During the meeting the group continued to work on drafting the legally-binding agreement on scientific cooperation in the Arctic.

The Arctic Council’s Task Force for Enhancing Scientific Cooperation in the Arctic (SCTF) held its sixth meeting in Copenhagen on August 19-20, 2015. Fifty delegates attended the meeting, including representatives from all eight Arctic Council Member States, Permanent Participant organizations the Aleut International Association (AIA) and the Saami Council, and Working Group AMAP (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme). Observers in attendance included France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) and the University of the Arctic (UArctic). The European Union also attended.

At the fifth meeting of the SCTF in Oslo, Norway, the ACS interviewed delegates from Finland, Russia and the United States…

At the most recent meeting in Tromsø, the Task Force noted the positive and valuable work that has been done towards a possible memorandum of understanding...

The Arctic Council’s Task Force for Enhancing Scientific Cooperation in the Arctic (SCTF) held its third meeting in Reykjavik on May 27-28, 2014.  The meeting focused on a draft document related to advancing scientific cooperation in the Arctic. The delegations decided that the task force would continue work on this document at its next meeting in September in Tromsø, Norway.

At the second meeting of the Arctic Council’s Task Force for Enhancing Scientific Cooperation in the Arctic, Mr. Evan Bloom, co-chair of the Task Force shared some thoughts on why scientific cooperation is important and why now is a good time to work towards an arrangement on improved scientific research cooperation among the eight Arctic States.

The Arctic Council’s Task Force for Enhancing Scientific Cooperation in the Arctic (SCTF) held its second meeting in Helsinki on April 8-9, 2014 at the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.  During the meeting, delegations exchanged views on proposals related to advancing scientific cooperation in the Arctic, and decided that the task force would begin work on negotiating an MOU or other instrument at its next meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland. 

The Arctic Council’s Scientific Cooperation Task Force, established by the Kiruna Declaration of May, 2013, had its first meeting in Stockholm, Sweden on 10-11 December. The workshop was primarily a scoping session, exploring the best path forward for the Task Force.