Looking North: Northern England and the National Imagination (Studies in Popular Culture)

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Aside from the dramatic environmental consequences of melting ice, there will also be economic implications. This made clear that ‘the High North and maintaining security in the defence of the North Atlantic remains of great importance’. Sweden should be integrated into the Alliance as soon as possible; their accession will strengthen the collective security of Europe. Increasing volumes of marine traffic create additional risks of environmental damage from maritime accidents and increased marine litter. Finland remains an active member of the JEF, hosting the June 2021 JEF Defence Ministers meeting and Table-Top exercise.

The UK’s National Space Strategy, published in 2021, sets out the government’s ambitions for the UK in space, including the ambition to become a partner of choice in space activities. Furthermore, the UKHO is developing marine capability in geospatial information management to support the UK’s Arctic interests. It will build on the success of exercise Trident Juncture in 2018 and the Cold Response series of exercises.The UK and Sweden enjoy a close relationship in science and innovation, for example collaborating closely on the transition to net zero, life sciences and space. The UK has a clear vision for a prosperous Arctic, where economic and commercial development is achieved in a way that is safe, responsible and sustainable. The UK supports a treaty that will restrain the production and consumption of plastic to sustainable levels, address plastic design and encourage more recycling and re-use of plastic. An HFO spill would severely harm the fragile marine and coastal Arctic environment, with serious long term detrimental effects.

The Royal Navy is a routine visitor to Norwegian and neighbouring Arctic waters and our Air Forces coordinate closely in the region.Finland is an important like-minded partner on climate change, having passed one of the world’s most ambitious climate targets into law. Scientific cooperation with the Arctic states is particularly strong, and we will look to continue and enhance this bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

The UK shares many interests with other non-Arctic States, including other State Observers to the Arctic Council. The momentum to address this across the life-cycle of plastic through a system change has continued to grow across governments and the public. The UK is committed to continuing to play its role in the sustainable management of fisheries in the Arctic. Climate change poses an existential threat to the Arctic as we know it, with the region experiencing warming at four times the global average.We will look to strengthen our cooperation with our partners across Europe and the Indo-Pacific in the pursuit of our shared objectives in the Arctic. We are a world leader across maritime finance because the UK has the world’s most open and international financial services centre with a historical tradition for innovation. The UK has a high regard for animal welfare, and as a result has banned commercially importing and marketing all seal products and any related products.

This Agreement is important for the UK as, due to the integrated nature of ecosystems, changes in the Arctic Ocean will have an impact on the distribution of North Atlantic biological resources. In 2019, we signed an FTA with the Faroe Islands, and in 2020 signed a Fisheries Framework Agreement which provides the platform for our annual bilateral fisheries negotiations.The UK seeks to work with our partners and Allies in the region to reinforce international rights to freedom of access and navigation in the Arctic. Since 2018, we have continued to work to deepen collaboration with Canada in areas of science and technology, and defence and security. While we expect other countries to deliver on these joint climate commitments, we also respect their right to determine the route they take to meeting these goals, including how they regulate the production and use of hydrocarbons. The new (2022) Strategic Concept now recognises that in the High North, Russia’s capability to disrupt Allied reinforcements and freedom of navigation across the North Atlantic is a strategic challenge to the Alliance. As we look ahead to address future challenges in the region, civil and defence space capabilities will become increasingly important to provide high fidelity, multi-spectral data to monitor the region and to enhance resilience to critical national infrastructure, including communications within the region.