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The Arctic Council is the intergovernmen- tal forum of the eight Arctic states: Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States. e council focuses its eorts on environ- mental protection and sustainable development issues. Formed in 1996, the council includes six indigenous arctic peoples groups, called Permanent Participants, and a host of observers. On April 29, 2009 the Arctic Council Ministers in Tromso, Norway approved a study for the future of the region, the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA). e study has signicant relevance to the global maritime industry and to the future of all marine operations in the Arctic Ocean. AMSA is an assessment of current and future arc- tic marine activity with a focus on arctic marine safety and marine environmental protection. The Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Repor t is the culmi- nation of work by nearly 200 experts under the councils working group entitled Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME). Led by Canada, Finland, and the United States during 2005-2009, AMSA is a follow-on eort to the councils Arctic Climate Impact Assessment and Arctic Marine Strategic Plan, each released in 2004, and each indicating future increases in arctic marine operations. Overall, AMSA should be considered a pol- icy statement, and a strong message, to the world with a framework to address the complex challenges of pro- tecting arctic people and the environment in an era of expanding use of the Arctic Ocean. AMSA is a broad, interdisciplinary assessment including such topics as: marine geography and regional climate; governance and law of the sea; arctic marine transportation history; the human dimension and indigenous marine use; scenarios or plausible futures of arctic marine navigation; environmental impacts; marine infrastructure; and a database of vessels oper- ating in the Arctic Ocean. Ninety-six findings are identied throughout the report and seventeen recom- mendations are listed under three, inter-related themes: enhancing arctic marine safety; protecting arctic people and the environment; and building the arctic marine infrastructure. e Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report and AMSA background research docu- ments (research papers key to AMSA but not approved or negotiated by the Arctic Council) can be found on the PAME Web site at www.pame.is. Overall, AMSA can be viewed in three ways: r B T B C B T F M J O F B T T F T T N F O U P G B S D U J D N B S J O F B D U J W J U Z F B S M Z in the 21st century, using the 2004 AMSA database as an historic snapshot of arctic marine use r B T B T U S B U F H J D H V J E F G P S B I P T U P G B S D U J D B O E O P O B S D U J D actors and stakeholders Key Arctic Document The Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment and the future of the region BY LAWSON W. BRIGHAM January 2011 www.sname.org/sname/mt (policy brieng )