Arctic Cooperation Programme in the hands of Greenland

At the Nordic Council’s 73^rd Session, it was finally decided that Greenland will take over responsibility for the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Arctic Cooperation Programme until 2024.

On 2 November, Greenland’s Minister for Cooperation, Kalistat Lund, presented the case to the Nordic Council. Greenland was to take over the executive body for the Arctic Cooperation Programme 2022-2024. The work has been going on for the past year, and there has been overwhelming agreement that an institution in Greenland should be able to take over the management of the pool. NAPA and Ilisimatusarfik will collaborate on the management of the pool.

The case was unanimously adopted, and Greenland can now expect to handle the open pool.

Arctic Cooperation Programme – sustainable development in the Arctic since 1996
For 25 years, the Nordic Council of Ministers has had the Arctic Co-operation Program, and this is the ninth time the program has been launched. The Arctic Co-operation Program is a pool of DKK 10 million which aims to promote Nordic international co-operation in – and for the benefit of – the Arctic. Of these, an open pool is determined annually in December – in 2021 the amount was DKK 7,9 million. and the pool is thus not exclusively a research pool, but can be applied for by authorities, institutions, researchers, NGOs and traders.

Over the years, the programme has supported projects that contribute to a development based on peace, stability, protection, growth, and prosperity. The programme has also contributed to projects and initiatives within the Arctic Council.

The cooperation programme facilitates partnerships that provide concrete solutions to challenges and needs in the Arctic – a region that must be preserved and developed at the same time.

In line with the Nordic Council of Ministers’ vision for 2030 to become the world’s most integrated and sustainable region, the purpose of the Arctic Cooperation Programme is to contribute to achieving the three strategic priorities for a green, competitive and sustainable Nordic region, with special regard to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The management of the pool
While it is the Nordic cooperation ministers who have the overall responsibility for the programme, and NRKA who is responsible for distributing the money, it is NAPA and Ilisimatusarfik who are jointly given responsibility for the management of the pool.

This involves building a new website, an online application module and setting up an evaluation panel to assess applications for the Arctic Cooperation Programme prior to NRKA’s decision. The panel will consist of six Ph.D. researchers with a background in Arctic research, and four non-researchers from the Arctic labor market in the form of businesspeople, cultural figures, and economists. Several Nordic countries are represented in the panel.

NAPA has been very much looking forward to taking over the management of the pool together with Ilisimatusarfik, and to the closer collaboration with Ilisimatusarfik in connection with the management of the large sum.

The website and the online application module are expected to be launched on December 1, 2021, and the application deadline for the pool is February 15.

A webinar / event will be held on 18 January, 10 a.m. to 12 o’clock, where there will be an opportunity to ask questions about your project.