This book is a product of an international symposium on “Law and Governance： Emerging Issues of the Polar Regions” ， which was held on 20-21 June 2017 by the Centre for Polar and Deep Ocean Development， Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The symposium brought together scholars， experts and policymakers from China， Australia， Finland， Norway， Russia， United Kingdom， New Zealand， United States， and Czech Republic to share their ideas on various aspects of polar studies.
　　With the emerging issues， the govemance of polar regions is facing new challenges. The environmental risks posed by rapidly increasing tourism; looming possibility of the opening-up and commercialization of Arctic shipping with the accelerated melting of Arctic sea ice and global warming; increased economic activity in areas such as Antarctic bioprospecting posing the potential to destabilize the order of the Antarctic Treaty System; the great powers‘ growing presence in the polar regions and engagement with polar govemance， etc. These issues need to be examined and explored from the perspectives of law and govemance.