The Law-Science Interface in the Arctic: Science and the Law of the Sea

Abstract

Law and science are both crucial for effective and legitimate decision-making in the Arctic. Yet their interaction is not always successful. This contribution discusses the various ways in which the law of the sea interacts with science in the geographical context of the Arctic, by looking at the references to science in the text of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the sea; the influence of scientific developments and/or new scientific knowledge on the interpretation and application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; and the way in which the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea regulates science. It concludes by analysing the interactions between law and science in the Arctic in light of Luhmann’s systems theory, by comparing the two bodies of knowledge to autopoietic, operationally closed, but cognitively open, systems.