Finland’s Arctic strategy: international cooperation and legal aspects

The article is devoted to the issues of international cooperation of Finland in the Arctic in the sphere of environment on a stable international legal basis. The international cooperation in the Arctic began at the government level in 1991 at Rovaniemi at the meeting of the Arctic countries’ ministers. The improvement of the regulatory and legal framework for environmental protection and perfection of the legal instruments of interaction with international environmental organizations is a priority task in the development of the Arctic zone. The development of interstate relations is promoted by a multitude of Arctic forums and discussion platforms that unite Finland and Russia in virtue of these countries’ geographical neighbourhood and trade and economic relations. Finland actively stands for mutually beneficial bilateral and multilateral cooperation with the Arctic countries on the basis of international treaties and agreements, and favours international scientific and technical cooperation within the framework of global and regional technological and research projects in the Arctic. The international attention to the prospects of the Arctic, as well as Finland’s climate-related agreements and commitments, required a revision of the national legislation on environmental. In the first 11 months of 2018, the Parliament of Finland received 265 draft bills in the sphere of ecology for consideration. The protection of indigenous small-numbered nations, their original habitat and traditional way of life is based on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In the author’s opinion, the study and application of the experience and achievements in the field of digital technologies in legal science in Finland will give a positive impetus to the perfection of the Russian digital model of legal groundwork for the Arctic, it will favour the improvement of the regulatory and legal framework for laying the foundations of state governance of the Russian Federation Arctic Zone and for legislative recognition of its status as a special object of state regulation, and it will also promote development of technologies for legal monitoring, legal prognostication and expert examination of international projects of statutory legal acts.