Countries outside the circumpolar North are showing interest in northern issues, with China being the latest country to join the Arctic Council.

China has obtained observer status with the intergovernmental council, which consists primarily of governments from eight countries with Arctic regions, including Canada.

China, which sent representatives to the council's last meeting late last year, is the group's first non-Arctic observer nation from outside Europe.

"[At] the coming meeting in northern Norway, they will come with six persons," Karsten Klepsvik, the council's chairman of senior Arctic officials, told CBC News from the council's secretariat in Tromso, Norway. "So that's definitely an indication of quite an interest."

Canada is a permanent member of the council, along with the United States, Russia, Norway, Denmark/Greenland, Finland and Sweden.

Six Arctic indigenous groups are also permanent members, including the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and Gwich'in Council International.

Along with China, seven other non-Arctic countries have observer status: Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Poland and Spain.

Klepsvik said those countries want to be actively involved in the Arctic Council's discussions, projects and committees — an issue that senior officials will discuss later this month at a meeting in Norway.

Driven by climate change, resources

"It will be quite a challenge for us, the permanent members of the Arctic Council, to see to what extent we can involve and how we should involve the observers," he said.

The growing interest in Arctic issues from non-Arctic countries is arising from climate change, shrinking sea ice, and improved access to northern regions rich in oil, gas and minerals, experts say.

"The Arctic is becoming geopolitically important, and because of that, I think we will find that there are more and more states and non-state actors that want to play a role," said Terry Fenge, an Ottawa-based consultant and expert on circumpolar issues.

Fenge said the new interest is a plus for Arctic nations, as many northern issues — from climate change to toxic pollutants drifting into northern environments — are the result of activities from countries outside the Arctic.

"As a result of climate change, it looks very much as though industrial development in the circumpolar Arctic in coming years and decades is going to increase," he said.

"I think the Chinese are particularly interested in the hydrocarbon resources, particularly the offshore [resources], that are thought to lie in the Arctic region."

Fenge said the Arctic Council could provide a good international forum for discussions on environmental policy.