UAF to co-host eighth Polar Law Symposium

September 22, 2015

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will co-host the first half of the eighth Polar Law Symposium Sept. 23-24 at the Wood Center on the Fairbanks campus.

The symposium will begin with a reception Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the International Arctic Research Center and will continue with Thursday sessions focused on law, policy, science and scholarship in the Arctic regions. The sessions will cover a wide variety of issues, including resource development, energy, indigenous rights, shipping, environmental concerns and governance. The Fairbanks portion of the symposium is expected to draw about 60 participants. The second half of the symposium will take place at the University of Alaska Anchorage Sept. 25-26.

This is the first Polar Law Symposium held in North America since the event began in 2008. Speakers will come from around the world, and participants will include lawyers, academics, natural and social scientists, and policymakers. In addition to UAF and UAA, sponsors include
the University of Washington School of Law, the Arctic Law Section of the Alaska Bar Association, University of the Arctic, The Polar Law Institute-University of Akureyri and NIEM-Arctic Centre-U Lapland.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Mike Sfraga, 907-474-2600, msfraga@alaska.edu. Betsy Baker, bbbak@uw.edu.

ON THE WEB: http://akpolarlawsymposium.squarespace.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Symposium sessions are open to members of the media. A full schedule of sessions is available online at http://akpolarlawsymposium.squarespace.com/preliminary-program/.