Challenges for America's Arctic Leadership

On Friday April 24th, Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Iqaluit, capital of Canada’s Nunavut territory. At a meeting with representatives from seven other countries (Russia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), Kerry will initiate the two-year American chairmanship of the Arctic Council, taking over from Canada. The U.S. chairmanship comes at a time of rapid changes in the Arctic’s international status. But over the next two years the United States will play a decisive role in shaping the international Arctic community despite the fact that many Americans (apart from Alaskans) aren’t even aware that the United States is an Arctic nation. There are two particular challenges that the U.S. will face: finding a balance between development and conservation, and preventing regional tensions from escalating.