Atuagagdliutit - 16.12.1993, Blaðsíða 4

4
ICC
DECEMBER 1993
ICC appoints new president of the ICC
In September 1993, Caleb
Pungowiyi, Yupik of Savo-
onga, Alaska, was formally
appointed the President of
the ICC during an Executive
Council Meeting in Nuuk. It
is the very first time that the
Executive Council of the
ICC has appointed a presi-
dent outside the Council
Caleb Pungowiyi is repla-
cing Member of the Alaska
House of Representatives,
Eileen MacLean from Bar-
row, Alaska, who resigned
as the President in July of
this year. Eileen MacLean
was elected President du-
ring the 6th General Assem-
bly in Inuvik, Canada, last
year.
Caleb Pungowiyi is m ar ri-
ed and has five children. He
has an educational back-
ground in electronics and in
the U.S.Army - Special For-
ces. From 1970 to 1975 Ca-
leb Pungowiyi was instru-
mental in the organization,
administration and transfer
of health services in the Be-
ring Straits and NANA re-
gions, through the Norton
Sound Health Corporation.
From 1975 to 1979 Caleb
Pungowiyi was the Vice Pre-
sident of the Bering Straits
Native Corporation, and
from 1979 to 1981, he was
the Deputy Director of Ka-
werak Inc., which is a regio-
nal non-profit organization
serving 19 villages of the Be-
ring Straits Region. In this
position, Caleb Pungowiyi
worked with the villages on
subsistence issues, Outer
Continental Shelf oil and
gas development projects,
tribal operations, and econo-
mic development.
During the 1980s, Caleb
Pungowiyi was the Presi-
dent of Kawerak Inc., wor-
king as the Chief Executive
Officer out of Norne provi-
ding supervision and mana-
gement of the delivery of
educational, cultural, social
and economic development
programs. From 1989 to
1990 Caleb Pungowiyi wor-
ked with the City of Kotze-
bue, first as a Director of Of-
fice of Management and
Budget and later as the City
Manager, while also holding
theposition as a Chief Com-
missioner for the Bering
Straits Regional Commis-
sion under theUnited States
Department of State until
1992. The Chief Commissio-
ner oversees andimple-
ments the agreements bet-
ween the United States and
the Commonwealth of Inde-
pendent States (CIS) con-
cerning the mutual visits by
indigenous inhabitants of
the designated areas in
northwest and west Alaska
and Chukotka.
From 1992 and until his
appointment as President of
the ICC, Caleb Pungowiyi
worked as the Executive Di-
rector of the Arctic Marine
Resources Commission in
Kotzebue. The Arctic Mari-
ne Resources Commission
deals with issues concerning
the Outer Continental Shelf
oil and gas development, in-
cluding negotiations betwe-
en local residents and re-
source companies targeting
oil and gas development in
the arctic waters.
Having served as an ICC
Executive Council Member
from 1983 to 1986, Caleb
ICC-ip siulittaasua Caleb Pungowiyi ICC-Canada-p vice-
præsidentiata Minnie Grey-ip aamma kalaallit vicepræsi-
dentiata IngmarEgede-p akornanni issiiasoq, AEPSpillugu
Ministerit Aappassaanik septemberimi Nuummi ataatsi-
miinneranni assilin eqarsim asoq. (Assiliisoq: LiL-Foto).
President of ICC, Caleb Pungowiyi, sitting between Vice-
President of ICC from Canada, Minnie Greyand Vice-Presi-
dent ofICC from Greenland, Ingmar Egede, at the Second
Arctic Ministers ’Meeting of AEPS in Nuuk September 1993
(Photo: LIL-Foto)
Pungowiyi is very familiar
with the work ofICC. In ad-
dition, his personal interests
and dedication to work for
his people, as outlined in the
above history of work, made
it a natural decision for Ca-
leb Pungowiyi to accept his
appointment along with the
overall responsibility for the
issues that ICC is currently
dealing with in relation to
the interna- tional commu-
nity.
Presently, the ICC Presi-
dent and Executive Council
are devoting much of their
time to major environmen-
tal and human rights issues
such as the Arctic Environ-
mental Protection Strategy
and programmes under the
strategy; the re-authoriza-
tion of the Marine Mammal
Protection Act; the IUCN
Inter-Commission Task
Force; United Nations; Arc-
tic Council. (For more de-
tails, piease look for the se-
parate articles on these issu-
es elsewhere in this newslet-
ter).
Caleb was appointed by
President Clinton, as one of
the 3 members to the Mari-
ne Mammal Commission,
who will be conducting hea-
rings among public interest
groups, Senate and Cong-
ress, and work out recom-
mendations for amend-
ments to MMPA. It is expec-
ted that Congressional hea-
rings will start in the begin-
ning of 1994.
We welcome Caleb Pungo-
wiyi and look forward to
continue our successful coo-
peration with him and his
stafl" in the coming year.
Beyond the Nuuk Environment Ministers’ Meeting
There was a lot of excite-
ment in Nuuk in September
of this year during the Arc-
tic Environment Ministerial
Meeting. The three indige-
nous organizations which
are permanent observere to
the Arctic Environmental
Protection Strategy (AEPS)
were given a greater role to
play in the protection of the
circumpolar environment.
The AEPS ministers from
the eight arctic nations ag-
reed to act on some concrea-
te recommendations made
by Inuit Circumpolar Confe-
rence and to further study
others.
There was also optimism
in June 1991, when the
AEPS was first ratified in
Rovaniemi, Finland. The
ICC, the Sami Council and
the Association of Indige-
nous Small Peoples of the
Russian Federation were in-
cluded as permanent obser-
vere to the Strategy and In-
digenous concerns were
front and centre in much of
the documents signed by the
Circimpolar »Eight«.
With the AEPS, the eight
governments agreed to sha-
re information and develop
programmes together which
would aim to eliminate arc-
tic pollution and protect the
circumpolar environment.
For a start they agreed to
concentrate on problems
such as persistent organic
contaminants, oil pollution,
heavy metals and dumping
of radioactive wastes in arc-
tic waters. They also agreed
to look at noice pollution
and acidification.
Four working groups we-
re set up to deal with these
targeted problems. They in-
clude the Arctic Monitoring
and Assessment Program-
me (AMAP), the Conserva-
tion of Arctic Flora and Fau-
na (CAFF), the Working
Group on the protection of
the Arctic Marine Environ-
ment, and finally Emergen-
cy Prevention, Prepared-
ness and Response. Alt-
hough the three indigenous
organizations were not gi-
ven voting priviledges wit-
hin the AEPS, the in tent
was for them to actively par-
ticipate in these working
groups and to be consulted
on all AEPS issues.
The Arctic ministers met
in Nuuk to review the pro-
gress of these working
groups over the past two ye-
ars and to plan new strategi-
es for the next two. - And
just how well has the AEPS
done in the last two years?
Will the apparent progress
made by the three indige-
nous organizations in Nuuk
contribute to a healthy envi-
ronment for Inuit and other
inhabitants of the circumpo-
lar region?
Over the last two years
the ICC has worked alongsi-
de the arctic States to carry
out the mandate of AEPS.
The limited resources avai-
lable to ICC have necessita-
ted difficult decisions as to
where efforts should be tar-
geted. Not everything was
accomplished as hoped, alt-
hough progress was made.
ICC offices in Canada, Rus-
sia, Greenland and Alaska
shared the workload, and
with the assistance of the
Sami Council and the Asso-
ciation of Indigenous Small
Peoples in the Russian Fe-
deration, a truely circumpo-
lar indigenous effort was of-
ten achieved.
Unfortunately, a lot of ti-
me was spent by indigenous
organizations reminding go-
vernment of their commit-
ments to support their effec-
tive participation in the pro-
cess. For example, the three
indigenous organizations
were not allowed in to the
preparatory meetings even
as observere the day befare
the ministers arrived in
Nuuk. Then when they were
finally allowed in the door,
one of the governments tri-
ed to have the President of
ICC, Caleb Pungowiyi ruled
out of order when he spoke
to a critical issue affecting
indigenous inhabitants of
the Arctic. The indigenous
peoples were also sometimes
forgotten when announce-
ments of Working Group
meetings were sent out.
In spite of the difficulty in
being heard at times, ICC
did contribute to substanti-
ve issues of the AEPS. For
example, ICC participated
actively in the AMAP wor-
king group where ICC ensu-
red that the scientific com-
munity hears indigenous
concerns and urged it to
consult more appropriately
with local communities
when carrying out research.
Indigenous peoples stressed
that they wanted to know
more about the health ef-
fects of contaminants found
in arctic food, and that the
efforts of AMAP should be
more focused on eliminating
the sources of pollution,
which are located in all cor-
ners of the globe, instead of
simply monitoring contami-
nants as they arrive. Alt-
hough there are still bridges
to cross, a better underetan-
ding between indigenous pe-
oples and the western scien-
tific community has develo-
ped due to ICC participa-
tion.
ICC also worked with the
Conservation of Arctic Flora
and Founa working group.
This work has lead to a de-
tailed Indigenous Peoples
Mapping Project of Belugas
and perhaps other species in
the United States, Canada
and, possibly Russia. Within
CAFF, ICC was able to cor-
rect erroneous accusations
on indigenous subsistence
hunting, and overall to fo-
ster better relations and un-
derstanding between go-
vernments and arctic inha-
bitants.
Prior to the Nuuk mini-
sterial meeting, ICC urged
the Circumpolar »Eight« to
consider broadening the
mandate of AEPS so that it
would go beyond simply mo-
nitoring the pollution and
look at questions of nort-
hern economies, utilization
of traditional knowledge
and improved indigenous
participation in the AEPS.
Gently reminding the
eight arctic nations that the
AEPS originally had been
conceived as an Arctic Su-
stainable Development
Strategy, ICC urged the mi-
nisters to look at ways in
which indigenous and other
inhabitants of the North
could continue their cultu-
res, economies and ways of
life in a manner that does
not harm future genera-
tions’ prospects for a pro-
ductive and safe environ-
ment.
Did the ministers listen?
They did partly. ICC had re-
commended the establishe-
ment of a working group on
sustainable utilization of li-
ving resources. The mini-
sters agreed to set up a task
force to look at this possibili-
ty, which is indeed an exci-
ting initiative that may mo-
ve the AEPS beyond conser-
vation and monitoring to
one of sustainability.
The eight ministers also
responded positively to an
ICC recommendation to fa-
cilitate improved indigenous
participation in the AEPS.
They did not commission a
working group as it was sug-
gested, but the Danish Mini-
ster for the Environment
and the Greenland Home
Rule Government offered fi-
nancial and other resources
to set up an International
Indigenous AEPS Secretari-
at in Greenland or Den-
mark.
It is now up to the indige-
nous organizations and arc-
tic States to make it work. It
is hoped that with the ad-
vances made at Nuuk last
September, the sustainable
future of the Arctic for the
Inuit of Greenland, Canada,
Alaska and Russia, and their
fellow indigenous inhabi-
tants of the Arctic will be as-
sured forever.