Støre leads World Economic Forum’s council on the Arctic
Former Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre has been appointed manager of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Arctic.
The council Støre leads is an advisory board to the World Economic Forum (WEF) and other interested parties, such as governments and international organizations. It is one of several similar councils created by the WEF to study the foremost topics in the global arena.
The mandate of the Global Agenda Council on the Arctic is to work better and more uniformly with governments and business leaders to contribute to the sustainable management of the Arctic.
The group has published two reports on Arctic issues – Demystifying the Arctic and Five Arctic Myths.
Støre was suggested by his predecessor as Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, who is member of the managing board in WEF, Aftenposten writes.
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss nonprofit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva. It describes itself as an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. The forum is best known for its annual winter meeting in Davos in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland. The meeting brings together some 2,500 top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals, and journalists, for a winter meeting, to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world, including health and the environment.
The foundation has been criticized by anti-globalization activists who claim that capitalism and globalization are increasing poverty and destroying the environment.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Arctic Economic Council – and the environment?, Iceblogger – Deutsche Welle
Greenland: Greenland urged to work with Arctic Council, CBC News
Iceland: Iceland conference draws on hopes, concerns for changing Arctic, Alaska Dispatch
United Kingdom: The British Invasion – The Arctic Circle and observer states, Analysis by Heather Exner-Pirot
United States: Alaska Native corp. to vote on whether to enroll descendants as shareholders, Alaska Dispatch News
