Defining the Arctic?

The Arctic is the geographic region surrounding the North Pole. This vast area includes the Arctic Ocean and parts of eight countries: Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Russia and the United States. Covering four per cent of the Earth's surface, the Arctic contains areas within, and beyond nations' jurisdictional boundaries. The parts of the Arctic Ocean considered as the high seas, 2.8 million square kilometres, are outside of national jurisdictional boundaries.

There is no single legal definition of the Arctic. A number of definitions often conceptualises the Arctic. The most common ones are:

• The Arctic Circle definition is based on the circle of latitude at 66.33 degrees north, or the Arctic Circle. The area above the Arctic Circle is that in which there is at least one day during the summer with no night, and at least one day during the winter in which there is no sun.


• The temperature definition is based on the average monthly temperature during the summer months. The Arctic is the northernmost region in which the average summer temperature does not exceed +10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit).


• The treeline definition refers to the point at which normal tree growth stops. The areas beyond this point above contain stunted trees, tundra and the Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic is also a region of pristine natural ecosystems with magnificent flora and fauna, cold climatic conditions, long winters and snow- or ice-covered terrain for most of the year. The indigenous population is sparse, with long distances between settlements.

The Arctic is, therefore, also defined as a region that its original population, the indigenous peoples, have inhabited for thousands of years. These people have unique cultural practices intimately connected to their livelihoods and linked to the region's unique characteristics. For example, the presence of ice and snow, and ice-dependent activities, such as using offshore ice-sheets as hunting grounds, help us understand the uniqueness of the culturally-defined Arctic.

There are also politically-based definitions of the Arctic, presented in legal and policy documents created within the framework, or under the auspices of, the Arctic Council, a high-level intergovernmental forum including the eight Arctic states. Examples include the Conservation of Arctic Fauna and Flora (CAFF), a working group of the Arctic Council, and the Arctic Search and Rescue Agreement, a legally binding document adopted by the eight Arctic states. These groups and agreements present their unique definitions of the Arctic required to carry out their specific purposes.