The venue for the 5^th Polar Law symposium will be Rovaniemi in Finland. The symposium is held in September 2012.

The Symposium – the home which is in Akureyri Iceland - brings together internationally renowned scholars, partaking in both Antarctic and Arctic research, from different parts of the globe.

Previous symposia have proven to be extremely successful in promoting both scholarship and understanding of polar issues. Their outcomes were beneficial to scholars, students and academicians, government agencies, policy makers, jurists and various stakeholders alike.

The last symposium was hosted by the University of Greenland and held in Nuuk, Greenland, where, among others, the honorable President of the Republic of Iceland and the Premiere of Greenland participated in thelively discussions.

The theme for the symposium is quite open. It covers a wide variety of topics relating to the Arctic and the Antarctic.

These include:

• Human rights issues, such as autonomy and self-government vs self-determination, the rights of indigenous peoples to land and natural resources and cultural rights and cultural heritage, indigenous traditional knowledge.
• Local and national governance issues.
• Environmental law, climate change,security and environment implications of climate change, protected areas and species.
• Regulatory, governance and management agreements and arrangements for marine environments, marine mammals, fisheries conservation and other biological/mineral/oil resources.
• Law of the sea, the retreating sea ice, continental shelf claims.
• Territorial claims and border disputes on both land and at sea.
• Peace and security, dispute settlement.
• Jurisdictional and other issues re the exploration, exploitation and shipping of oil, gas and minerals, bioprospecting.
• Trade law, potential shipping lines through the northwest and northeast passages, maritime law and transportation law.
• The roles and actual involvement of international organizations in the Polar regions, such as the Arctic Council, the European Union, the International Whaling Commission, the Nordic Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the United Nations, as well as NGOs.

Researchers, faculty members, young scholars, jurists, post-graduate research students, policy makers, stakeholders and others interested to submit abstracts within the scope of the above mentioned theme. The abstract should contain no more than 200 words and should be sent to Kamrul Hossain () by 31. March 2012.

The symposium will be held in the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland from 6^th to 8^th of September.

Participants’ registration is from June 15^th – August 15^th, 2012. Registrations are sent to Raija Kivilahti
().