The Future of Arctic Navigation: Cooperation Between the International Maritime Organization and Arctic Council

The Arctic Ocean has been on the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) agenda for a long time. However, recently, due to the melting trend in the sea ice as well as the discovery of natural resources under the ocean floor, the region has become a center of attention. This attention accordingly led to a number of legal instruments being created and adopted by the IMO in order to fill the legal gap that existed with respect to the Arctic Ocean. In this process, the Arctic states, through the Arctic Council, played a remarkable role as their cooperative effort became a steppingstone for the IMO to achieve its desired results. The cooperation between the IMO and Arctic Council therefore warrants an investigation and a careful analysis to understand how these recent navigational rules in the Arctic Ocean came into being. The Arctic Ocean, despite its unique and different characteristics, is part of a global marine environment; therefore, it is subject to the same global instruments.