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US Arctic Policy Organizations
US Arctic Policy Organizations
The Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs (OPA) develops and coordinates foreign affairs aspects of U.S. oceans, Arctic, and Antarctic policy, including U.S participation in international ocean and polar agreements and conventions. OPA conducts bilateral and multilateral negotiations involving the law of the sea, freedom of navigation and overflight, marine science, extended continental shelf, marine mammals, protection of the marine environment, and maritime claims and boundaries. OPA also develops and coordinates U.S. policy affecting the Arctic and Antarctic regions, including by leading U.S. participation in the Arctic Council, the only intergovernmental forum dedicated solely to Arctic issues.
The US Arctic Research Commission (USARC) is an independent federal agency created by the Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1984. It is a presidentially appointed advisory body supported by staff in Washington, DC, and in Anchorage, Alaska. In addition to delivering a biennial report to the President and Congress outlining recommended scientific research goals and objectives for the Arctic, the Commission develops and recommends an integrated national Arctic research policy and builds cooperative links in Arctic research within the federal government, with the State of Alaska, and with international partners.
IARPC – pronounced eye-ar-pick – is the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee. By bringing together leaders from 18 agencies, departments, and offices across the U.S. federal government, we enhance research in the Arctic.
IARPC was created in 1984 under the Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1984 (ARPA). The act called for a comprehensive national policy focused on research needs and objectives in the Arctic. It established IARPC and our sibling organization, the Arctic Research Commission (USARC), to help implement the act.
In July 2010, a presidential memo established IARPC as an interagency working group of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). The director of the National Science Foundation serves as IARPC’s chair.
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