Services
Consulting. Betsy Baker consults on research, strategy and policy projects involving Arctic and international marine activity in three general areas:
- Marine resource development and conservation, including ecosystem-based management of fisheries and other living marine resources, comparative offshore oil and gas regulation in the circumpolar North, comparative indigenous resource rights, ocean and coastal resources and management, and balancing multiple uses in marine areas;
- International environmental law, including its influence on national law, sustainability and marine ecosystems, and climate change implications for marine and coastal infrastructure;
- Law of the Sea, including use of resources within and beyond national jurisdiction, continental shelf claims, marine scientific research access, shipping and navigation, and emerging issues in oceans law.
Teaching. Baker continues to draw on decades of teaching experience at Vermont, Minnesota, and Harvard Law Schools, most recently teaching Arctic Politics and Governance at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (2016), and lecturing on Arctic Maritime Law and the Law of the Sea for the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security (2022).
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Curriculum Vitae and Biographical Information
Curriculum Vitae link: Betsy Baker CV
Wilson Center Polar Institute link: Global Fellow
Academic Affiliations: International Arctic Research Center Affiliate Faculty, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Vermont Law School Distinguished Scholar
Advisory board appointments (current and recent): ArCS II (Japan); SEARCH (US); JUSTNORTH (EU); Arctic Centre (Finland), National Academies of Science (US) Polar Research Board and Science in BOEM’s Environmental Studies Program
Education: Baker earned her law degrees from the University of Michigan (J.D. 1982) and Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany (LL.M. 1994, Dr. iur. 2000), and her B.A. from Northwestern University (1978). She is an alumna of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Chancellors Fellows program and, though not a member of the Alaska Bar, practiced law in Minnesota and was law clerk to the Hon. John T. Noonan, Jr. of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
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Media Coverage
May 15, 2021, National Public Radio Morning Edition Blinken to Head North on Arctic Trip
April 29, 2016 KUAC Public Radio Advocate: In Conservation vs. Development Debate, Alaska Offers Chance ‘To Get it Right’
March 15, 2016 Fairbanks Daily News Miner Arctic Policy Decisions must be based on facts
December 16, 2015 Science and Diplomacy Cold War in a Warming Place: Can Eastern and Western Scientists Effectively Partner in the Arctic?
December 8, 2015 Portland Press Herald Sen. Angus King pursues funding to add icebreakers in Arctic
September 25, 2015 Alaska Public Media Working it out in the Arctic
September 13, 2015 Newsweek An International Race for the Arctic? Try a Slow, Science-Driven Crawl
September 1, 2015 NPR/All Things Considered Obama asks Congress to Fund New Coast Guard Icebreakers
August 8, 2015 Alaska Dispatch News Russia just claimed a broad swath of the Arctic shelf; why isn’t the US doing the same?
Baker Arctic Consulting 