Search & Rescue

August 2017

A new IMO film focuses on the challenges that search and rescue operations entail in inhospitable polar regions. This video is part of a series on IMO in the polar environment with the aim to illustrate how IMO supports safe and environmentally-friendly shipping in the Arctic and Antarctic waters.

January 2013

At the 2009 Ministerial Meeting in Tromsø, Norway Ministers mandated the creation of a Task Force to develop an international instrument for cooperation on search and rescue operations in the Arctic. This led to the first ever legally binding agreement to be negotiated under the auspices of the Arctic Council, which was signed at the Nuuk Ministerial meeting in 2011, and came into force in January, 2013. 

Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic