The Polar Research and Policy Initiative (PRPI), also known as The Polar Connection, is a foreign policy think tank based in London, England. Specializing in the Arctic, Nordic, Baltic, and Antarctic regions, as well as energy and environmental issues, PRPI aims to promote sustainable regional development.
History
Founding Polar Research and Policy Initiative was founded by Dwayne Ryan Menezes and Christophe Milhères in 2015-2016 as the UK's first policy think-tank dedicated primarily to the Arctic and Antarctic. It was incorporated in England and Wales in September 2015, six months after the founders returned from Greenland, and launched in February 2016, at a private reception held at the Travellers Club in London. The event heard from Aleqa Hammond, the former Prime Minister of Greenland and Andrew Rosindell, Member of Parliament (MP) for Romford and Founder and former Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Polar Regions, as speakers, and attendees included Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General; Captain Ashok Mahapatra, Director of the Maritime Safety Division of the International Maritime Organization; Stefan Asmundssen, President of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission; Donald Lamont, Chairman of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, former Governor of the Falkland Islands and Commissioner of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and Jock Wishart, polar explorer. Its web portal, Polar Connection, was launched thereafter in July 2016.
Current status The mission of PRPI, as stated on its website, is to: Raise the profile and understanding of the Polar Regions in the UK and across the Commonwealth; Support polar researchers and polar research institutions in maximising the visibility, impact, and reach of their research; Increase and sustain the scholarly, cultural, political, and commercial engagement of the UK and relevant Commonwealth member states with the Polar Regions (especially the Arctic Council member states); Help address the political, social, economic, and environmental challenges facing polar people and places; Facilitate greater bilateral trade and investment between Arctic states and Commonwealth member states.
PRPI's focus has gradually expanded from an early emphasis on UK and Commonwealth of Nations. This expansion includes the United States and, after the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum (popularly known as Brexit), the rest of Europe. As a UK-based international think-tank that operates principally in the international arena, at the time of its inception, PRPI engaged with different geographic constituencies through four engagement forums. These engagement forums include Asia Pacific, European Union, Small Island Developing States and World Ocean. Following the 2016 Arctic Circle Assembly, PRPI also introduced a new BRICS engagement forum.
Activities Since its inception, PRPI's most prominent features have been the provision of research, analysis and commentary; high engagement with policymakers, industry leaders, academics and Indigenous representatives; ongoing dialogue with national governments and multilateral fora; and active participation at national and international conferences. It has also aligned its principal activities with the key priorities of the incumbent Chairs of the Arctic Council: the United States, 2015–2017, on "improving economic and living conditions in Arctic communities"; and Finland, 2017–2019, in "the Agenda 2030 framework [2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development] can be used in Arctic cooperation for the benefit of humans and nature".
Research, analysis and commentary PRPI publishes its research and provides analysis and commentary both, via its digital platform, Polar Connection and through partner platforms. PRPI Fellows also publish their research. Its research interests are reflected in its organizational structure, which features three divisions: theme-specific units; industry-specific units; and stakeholder engagement forums.
Theme-specific units PRPI has six theme-specific units: Natural Environment Marine Environment Built Environment Indigenous Peoples Arts, Culture and Heritage Geopolitics and Security
Industry-specific units PRPI has six industry-specific units: Energy Mining Shipping Fisheries Tourism Information and communications technology
Engagement forums PRPI engages with different geopolitical constituencies through five engagement forums: Asia Pacific European Union Small Island Developing States World Ocean BRICS
Stakeholder engagement PRPI positions itself as the nexus between stakeholders in policy, industry, academia, civil society and the media, and it provides a platform for dialogue and cooperation among different stakeholders. It does so in a variety of ways:
Parliamentary Evidence, Policy Briefs and Industry Briefs PRPI has regularly provided written and oral evidence to relevant UK Parliamentary inquiries, such as:
UK House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, 'Leaving the EU: Negotiating Priorities for Energy and Climate Change Policy Inquiry'; UK House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee, 'Scotland and the High North Inquiry'; UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, 'Closing the STEM Skills Gap Inquiry'; UK House of Commons International Trade Committee, 'UK Trade Options Beyond 2019 Inquiry'. PRPI also provides policy briefs and industry briefs, when requested, to policymakers and industry leaders.
Missions and delegations PRPI also briefs national governments and intergovernmental bodies about various Arctic, Nordic, and Antarctic issues. In September 2016, its founder, Dwayne Menezes, represented PRPI at the United Nations General Assembly and was invited to attend the UN Paris Climate Change Agreement Ratification Ceremony in New York City as a Civil Society Observer. In its early years, PRPI delegations were also received by the Executive Secretary of the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat in Buenos Aires; the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York; the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House, the United States Department of State, the International Monetary Fund and the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C.; the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London; the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia) in Canberra; Global Affairs Canada, Senate of Canada and Government of Newfoundland and Labrador; the Prime Minister's Office (Finland) and Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Finland) in Helsinki; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Denmark) in Copenhagen; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Iceland) in Reykjavík; among others.
Conferences PRPI has sent delegations to, or convened policy dialogues at the Arctic Circle Assemblies organized by Arctic Circle (organization) in Reykjavík in October 2015, October 2016 and October 2017; the Arctic Circle Forums hosted by the same organization in Edinburgh in November 2017 and Tórshavn in May 2018; the Arctic Encounter Symposia held in the margins of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December 2015 and in Seattle in April 2018; the Arctic Spirit Conference hosted in Rovaniemi in November 2017; the Ramboll Arctic Roundtable in Portland, Maine in December 2016; the NERC Arctic Science Conference convened in Sheffield in September 2015 and Antarctic Science Conference in Norfolk in July 2016; the Antarctica 100 Annual Meeting at the Royal Geographical Society in London in November 2015; the Arctic Future Symposium hosted by the International Polar Foundation in Brussels in November 2015; and the Arctic Science Summit Week and Arctic Observing Summit held in Fairbanks in April 2016 and Davos in June 2018.
High-level dialogues on SDGs in the Arctic PRPI has been widely credited for ensuring the Sustainable Development Goals remain high on the policy agenda of Arctic Council member and observer governments, and for bringing about a re-articulation of the global Arctic discourse along the lines of the 17 Global Goals. It is particularly known for its high-level, multi-stakeholder dialogues on SDGs in the Arctic, which have been convened thus far at the Arctic Circle Assembly at Harpa (concert hall) in Reykjavík, Iceland in October 2017; Lapland University of Applied Sciences in Rovaniemi, Finland in November 2017; Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, in December 2017; Australian Institute of International Affairs in Canberra, Australia, in January 2018; Palace of Westminster in London, United Kingdom in February 2018; Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston, United States in March 2018;https://sites.tufts.edu/fletcherarctic/2018-conference-agenda/ Arctic Encounter Symposium in Seattle, United States in April 2018; University of Tromsø in Tromsø, Norway in April 2018;http://www.publicnow.com/view/9A9B00B71E413959662B58A9D2B147B9C17F374E?2018-04-27-11:30:25+01:00-xxx9046 Arctic Circle Forum in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands in May 2018; and Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India in June 2018.
Dialogues on Arctic Border Governance In June 2017, PRPI co-hosted a workshop on 'Regional Security in the North: Emerging Themes and Challenges' in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, in collaboration with Trent University, Yukon College, Royal Military College of Canada, St. Jerome's University, the Consulate General of the United States in Toronto, Borders in Globalization and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. At the workshop, David Johnny, former chief of the White River First Nation, highlighted the challenges posed by borders to indigenous communities, such as the Upper Tanana peoples, whose villages and dwellings were near the boundary or even straddled the line. Likewise, Dalee Sambo Dorough, professor at University of Alaska Anchorage and former chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, discussed the difficulties faced by American and Canadian Inuit.
Two months later, in August 2017, PRPI, along with University College London (UCL), Trent University and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, convened a follow-up interdisciplinary panel discussion on 'Arctic Borders Governance' at UCL in London, with Heather Nicol, Ilan Kelman and Dwayne Menezes as speakers. The discussion focused on the implications of borders on indigenous peoples in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions - particularly the Inuit in United States, Canada, Greenland and Russia; the Aleuts in Russia and the United States; the Gwich'in people in Canada and the United States; and the Sami people in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. These discussions also formed the basis of the paper on 'Canada, Indigenous Peoples and Northern Borders' that Menezes published in The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs in October 2017.
In December 2017, on behalf of PRPI and Trent University, Menezes and Nicol chaired a panel discussion on Arctic borders at the Erasmus+ - and SSHRC- funded Borders in Globalization 2nd International Conference held at the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa, Canada, with Canadian Senator Charlie Watt, historian P. Whitney Lackenbauer, lawyer Robin Campbell and Suzanne Lalonde, professor at Université de Montréal, as speakers.
Dialogues on Arctic Sealing