NEWS NOTES ON SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES The Arctic Council at 20 http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2016/09/19/evaluating-arctic-council-20-or-27The Arctic Council was created 20 years ago as a consensus-based forum for cooperation, coordination, and interaction between Arctic states and, significantly, with the participation of Arctic Indigenous communities. However, its founding principles alone obscure the complexity of lengthy negotiations that mark the day-to-day operations of the Council. World Policy Institute’s Arctic in Context initiative, directed by Erica Dingman, presents a series of expert assessments of the Arctic Council at this critical juncture. The Arctic Council has experienced a number of significant successes. It has been responsible for bringing together representatives from the eight Arctic states as well as the northern indigenous peoples to examine and consider issues of mutual concern. It has become successful enough to attract the attention of non-Arctic states such as China and Japan. These non-Arctic states have been persistent in seeking observer status on the Council because they understand its utility and success. There have also been successes in regards to the creation of specific agreements, such as one that deals with search and rescue cooperation in the Arctic. The working groups and task forces that do the real work within the Arctic Council have also produced a series of outstanding reports that have improved our knowledge on key environmental issues pertaining to the Arctic. This study will also be linked on the 2016 Actions and Activities Page of the Sustainable Water Resources Site at https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresources/ Tim Smith Sustainable Water Resources Coordinator Government Web Site, http://acwi.gov/Sustainable Water Resources Site, https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresources/