The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) has received provisional consultative status at the International Maritime Organization, according to Eye on the Arctic. ICC represents the approximately 180,000 Inuit in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka, Russia.

“For an Indigenous people to have a seat there is really exciting,” said Lisa Koperqualuk, ICC Canada Vice President International.

Koperqualuk says a number of Arctic-specific issues tackled at the IMO, from the heavy fuel oil (HFO) ban to the Polar Code, directly affect Inuit communities.

The application was approved this Monday.