Twice a year, the Senior Arctic Officials of the Arctic Council’s eight states and six permanent participants meet in plenary along with the Arctic Council Observers to update each other on the work of the Arctic Council, in particular related to environmental protection, sustainable development, and international coordination in the Arctic. IASC has attended every one of these meetings since the founding of the Arctic Circle and was represented at the SAO meeting in Rovaniemi, Finland (1-2 November 2018) by IASC President Larry Hinzman and the IASC Executive Secretary. Particular topics of interest in this meeting included updates on the:
- Review of Observers,
- Working Group activities,
- Implementation of the Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation from the Kingdom of Denmark,
- Draft priorities of the Iceland Chairmanship of the Arctic Council (2019-2021), and
- A special Observer session on the topic of Arctic biodiversity.
The Arctic Council's press release for the meeting is here. You can also read IASC’s statement on biodiversity here.