We here students of the Polarlaw program recently had three very interesting visit's.

the fyrst was Inukteg Olsen Deputy minister of Greenland. Which clarified to us the posistion of Greenland and the ongoing changes their society is going threw. As many of you perhaps know Greenlanders recently took yet another step towards independence from Denmark, the referendum received a 76% following in a popular vote in Greenland giving the increased control in varioust matters. You can read more about this at wikipedia which knows it all ;) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenlandic_self-government_referendum,_2008

This visit was very welcome and informative and we took the opertunity to take a group photo.


The next two guests where Ragnar Baldursson which is Icleands Senior Arctic Official. His visit was very informative in connection to Icelands Arctic policy. We got a sneakpeak into Icelands uppcoming Arctic policy which is expected to be published Mars/April.

The third visitor was Margrét Henriksdóttir a retired professor here at the University of Akureyri which has been doing quite a bit of work with the UN, here time was however cut a bit short, so she is planing on having us over for coffee later on this semsester. So that will be really interesting.

Kári

NATO And Café Hressó

Four of us from Polar Law are sitting at a small Coffee house downtown Reykjavík called café hressó, which sort of means café be cheer-full. We are on a journey to attend the current N.A.T.O conference in Reykjavík on Security prospects in the High North. What makes this conference especially interesting for me is that i am not sure i should be attending it, or standing outside and protesting (perhaps with my mother who was very active in protesting against the organization in the 70's) . There has been an ongoing protest against the conference and six protesters where mazed yesterday who where against Iceland's membership in N.A.T.O. Non the less the conference will be very interesting, and personal doubts will be put aside. However Café be chear-full is a blast and they have live music every evening, where unknown bands can get their name out there. I tried to record the atmosphere here just for fun with the built in web cam so the recording is really lousy, however the bad qualitty of the recording sortof ads a electronic remixi wibe.





It's gona be a early morning tomorow when we meet up with the other two going to the conference. We plan to give a further update soon on the conference and our journey, and be sure to follow the next entry we might just solve the worlds security matters tomorow before lunch.........

Psst. Five minutes after posting this i got the latest scoop..... the girls after droping off one of our mentors at the conference registry had a run in with the boys in blue. They where cought trying to breach a police perimiter.....
obviously with good intentions though :)

Kári

The Arctic from 38,000 Feet

I only realize how infinite the North seems from 38,000 feet above. Just now, as I fly home from Reykjavik to my home in Canada and pass the expanse of blues and whites of the North Atlantic and mull over what is now a completed first semester of the Polar Law Program, I feel a little overwhelmed and very much excited.

It’s always exciting to be the first. Sure, the first ever semester of the University of Akureyri’s Polar Law Program has been about as unpredictable as Icelandic weather or a traditional Icelandic cuisine buffet, but in hindsight it’s been a great four months. Our class, comprised of 12 Icelandic students and 3 international students, have successfully finished courses on security, environmental law, good governance, customary law, and an inspiring Polar Law Symposium. Like the geographic area that I now fly over, we’ve been through a vast array of material. We’ve been challenged by professors, challenged each other, and emerged with a new understanding and appreciation of the North.

This doesn’t mean it will be any easier to answer the inevitable question of what exactly what Polar Law studies are- a question I expect to get within thirty minutes of landing. In fact, I left for Iceland feeling oddly embarrassed that I didn’t know exactly what Polar Law studies were and now I return with that same feeling of academic ambiguity. Instead what I’ve learned is that rather than legal issues in the north being something you can easily list, they encompass every facet of the region’s geographic, environmental, social and cultural life. Polar law isn’t something easily definable because like the region itself, it is complex and ever changing. The difference is, rather than feeling embarrassed when stumbling to answer any questions about my studies I’ll be able to say with honesty that it is exactly the ambiguity of the studies which make it so fascinating and so important.

By Harry, M.A. Polar Law Student 2008-2010, University of Akureyri