The Arctic Council Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

An international group of about 60 academics nominates the Arctic Council for a Nobel Peace Prize.

The scientists, a group within the University of the Arctic that studies geopolitics and security, circulated a letter January 15 that nominates the Arctic Council for a Nobel Peace Prize, reports the Nunatsiaq online.

"Exceptional"

“The Arctic Council remains a forum wherein all eight member states acknowledge and appreciate the impacts of climate change on human society and the environment, and are working in a united manner to mitigate and adapt to its consequences. This makes it exceptional,” said the signatories of the letter.

“In a time when facts have been challenged, diversity has been viewed with suspicion, and the value of international cooperation has been questioned, the Arctic Council has persevered in its work unabated,” they write.

A place of cooperation

“The Arctic region has always been a place where cooperation between and amongst groups was not only desirable, but in many cases necessary for survival.

This philosophy has continued into the 21st century, where climate change, globalization, mass-scale utilization of resources, and narrow interpretations of geopolitics impose new challenges to the region.”

Always kept secret

The Norwegian Nobel Institute receives hundreds of nominations every year, last year more than 300. The Institute never reveals who, or what organizations, are suggested – apart of course, from every year’s winner of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.

There is no strict rule governing when the Norwegian Nobel Committee shall announce the name of the year's Peace Prize Laureate. However, the established custom is to make the announcement at 11 a.m. on Friday of the first full week of October. According to the Nobel Foundation statutes the recipient of the Peace Prize must be announced no later than 15 November.