Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
proposals for the Arctic that are akin to a “Damascus road” vision. The first two proposals
called for a nuclear weapons-free northern Europe and for a reduction in military activit-
ies in the region, accompanied by the promotion of military trust. Next were proposals for
the cooperative development of Arctic resources and for opening up the north-eastern sea
route to international shipping. Finally came two proposals aimed to protect the Arctic en-
vironment, which included the development of a Pan-Arctic comprehensive plan to bring it
about and the setting up of a corresponding environmental monitoring programme.
Political speeches usually have their origins in text fragments provided by several au-
thors. The final mosaic may not be settled until moments before the politician speaks. I
haveoftenbeenapartofthisscramble,andwhenonelooksattranslationsoftheMurmansk
speech, one is struck by the contrast in style and content between the first and second parts.
I often wondered where did the material for the second part come from? There were ru-
mours of a story that should soon be confirmed. In the 2013 IASC bulletin, it was an-
nounced that Odd Rogne from Norway is working on a document that includes the com-
mittee's early history. Here is an enticing quote from the announcement: “Wording in the
IASC planning papers found its way into President Gorbachev's Murmansk speech (1987),
aspeech that changed theSoviet Arctic policy fundamentally.”Itwill befascinating toread
Odd's document.
But what happened after Murmansk? If I had been asked at any time until January 11,
1989, I would have said that very little changed. I would have been wrong. People in Hel-
sinki had been very busy. On January 12, I was sitting comfortably in my office in Ottawa
when Garth Bangay (my boss at the time) bounded in with his usual enthusiasm. He threw
a file on my desk and shot off down the corridor, yelling over his shoulder “Come over in
fifteen minutes and tell me how you think Canada should respond.” The file was from our
Department of Foreign Affairs and inside was a letter from Kalevi Sorsa and Kaj Barlund,
thethen-ministers offoreignaffairsandenvironment forFinland,respectively.Inanutshell
(although they did not mention Murmansk), they were floating a plan to implement the
environmental elements of Mr. Gorbachev's 1987 proposals. It was all very simple. In the
brief letter, they devoted a paragraph to determine that the Arctic environment was not in a
Search WWH ::
Custom Search