Who governs the Arctic? The Arctic Council and the eight states

Updated November 2026

No single government or treaty runs the Arctic. Its land belongs to eight countries, each with its own laws. The main forum where those countries cooperate is the Arctic Council, set up in 1996, which gives the region's Indigenous peoples a permanent seat at the table.

Arctic versus Antarctic

People often expect the two polar regions to be governed the same way. They are not. Antarctica is a continent covered by one treaty that freezes territorial claims and sets the land aside for peace and science (see Antarctica and the Treaty). In the Arctic, the land belongs to eight sovereign states and is home to almost four million people. National laws apply there, and international cooperation happens through forums and agreements rather than a single treaty.

The eight Arctic states

The Arctic states are:

Canada
the Kingdom of Denmark
Finland
Iceland
Norway
the Russian Federation
Sweden
the United States

Each holds territory in the Arctic. Together, their northern regions are home to more than four million people.

The Arctic Council

The Arctic Council was established on 19 September 1996, when the eight governments signed the Ottawa Declaration in Ottawa, Canada. It built on the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy of 1991, a non-binding agreement among the same eight states.

The Council is an intergovernmental forum for cooperation among the Arctic states, Indigenous peoples and other Arctic residents, with a focus on sustainable development and environmental protection. A few points are often misunderstood:

Decisions are by consensus of all eight Arctic states.
Military security is excluded from its mandate by the Ottawa Declaration.
It does not enforce its own guidelines, assessments or recommendations,, and it has no programming budget of its own.
The chairship rotates every two years among the eight states. Canada was the first chair.

Permanent Participants

Six organizations representing Arctic Indigenous peoples are Permanent Participants, with full consultation rights in the Council's negotiations and decisions:

Aleut International Association
Arctic Athabaskan Council
Gwich'in Council International
Inuit Circumpolar Council
Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON)
Saami Council

The Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples' Secretariat is based in Tromsø, Norway. Who these peoples are is explained on Arctic peoples.

Observers

Countries and organizations outside the Arctic can apply to become observers. They can follow the Council's work and contribute, but they do not take decisions. The Council lists 38 observers:

13non-Arctic states
13intergovernmental and interparliamentary organizations
12non-governmental organizations

The observer states are China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Working Groups and agreements

Much of the Council's practical work is done by six Working Groups, which produce assessments, recommendations and work plans:

Arctic Council Working Groups
Group	Area of work
ACAP	Arctic Contaminants Action Program
AMAP	Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme
CAFF	Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna
EPPR	Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response
PAME	Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment
SDWG	Sustainable Development Working Group

There is also an Expert Group on Black Carbon and Methane. Three legally binding agreements have also been concluded among the eight Arctic states through the Council:

Aeronautical and maritime search and rescue in the Arctic (2011)
Marine oil pollution preparedness and response in the Arctic (2013)
Enhancing international Arctic scientific cooperation (2017)

The 2017 agreement is the one most relevant to polar research, including the next International Polar Year (see IPY 2032–2033), since its subject is international scientific cooperation in the Arctic.

Recent developments

Arctic Council since 2022
Date	What happened
Mar 2022	Official Arctic Council meetings were paused
May 2023	The 13th Council meeting ended the Russian chairmanship and began Norway's chairship (2023–2025)
Aug 2023	The eight states agreed that Working Groups could resume project work through written procedures
Feb 2024	Consensus to gradually resume official Working Group meetings in a virtual format
12 May 2025	The 14th meeting, held virtually and chaired from Romssa-Tromsø, adopted the joint Romssa-Tromsø Statement and handed the chairship to the Kingdom of Denmark (2025–2027)
2026	The Council marks 30 years of cooperation

In the Romssa-Tromsø Statement, the Arctic states and Permanent Participants reaffirmed their commitment to peace, stability and cooperation in the region and recognized the Council as the leading forum for circumpolar cooperation. As of the pages checked for this guide, diplomatic-level meetings had not fully returned to their pre-2022 form. Check the Arctic Council news page for the current situation.

Other players

The Arctic Council is not the only forum. National governments, regional and Indigenous governments, and international bodies all have roles. On the science side, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) co-leads planning for the next International Polar Year with its Antarctic counterpart, SCAR.