Time magazine who owns the arctic

By taking its lead from these works and their findings, this article seeks to make the case for a reformed Arctic Council and the widening of its mandate; one that includes defence and security related issues. Its main argument is that reforming the Council, or more accurately expanding its mandate, does not represent a deviation from its initial purpose but in fact is a vital prerequisite if it is to be able to fulfil its key objectives of environmental protection and sustainable development.

As the most prominent regional organisation, the Arctic Council is a consensus-based entity which aims at promoting peaceful cooperation with a particular focus on sustainable development, environmental protection, and knowledge sharing. Its policy proposals, therefore, mount to non-binding recommendations while hard security issues fall outside its institutional mandate thereby disallowing it to hold discussions on defence and security issues; an inability which has begun to come under sustained criticism.

Refuses Mention Of Climate Change. More often than not, supporters of the status-quo argue that any push towards change would mount to a costly distraction for an organisation that is already under financial restraints while it would also introduce an unwelcome element of realpolitik thinking into members deliberations.

This, so the argument goes, could hamper cooperation on other issues such as environmental cooperation. Climate change has already necessitated a need to upgrade sensitive or critical military and civilian infrastructure in the Arctic, as evident in the cases of Russia and the US, both of which have begun to upgrade their military, civil, and dual used installations in the region. Arctic Policy Under Biden. Equally important, even if one was to discount the likelihood of expanded military activity in the region, the mere growth in commercial activity will bring the issue of defence and security to the fore.

Today, all the Arctic states, albeit to varying extents, have begun accelerating work on expanding their extractive capacities and the means for their distribution in the global market.

As these projects progress and more resources from the region come online, the likelihood of prolonged interstate disputes cannot be discounted in spite of the fact that states have an economic interest in avoiding such scenarios.

As a result, if the resources, or access to them, are deemed critical to national security, states would not hesitate to use aggressive means in an attempt to secure their access.

To this effect, disputes could occur over a number of issues of which the following three are the most prominent ones: 21 Klare, M. In other words, the Arctic Council can provide a platform for high-table diplomacy 24 Engelbrekt, K.

Washington DC: Georgetown University Press or informal high level encounters where officials can exchange ideas and negotiate non-binding agreements before engaging in official deliberations at formal settings like the UN. A quick review of the most recent Arctic strategy documents of the Arctic states demonstrate that they all identify a need for technological cooperation and co-investments in order to build smart and green infrastructure in the region.

This is best demonstrated in the cases of China, Japan and South Korea, all of which consider investment in the Arctic and contribution to its infrastructural development as a strategic and commercial booster; 26 Korea Maritime Institute Arctic Policy of the Republic of Korea.

National Defense Magazine. Take 3: With Russia increasing its military presence in the region, the US understands the need to improve military technology for use in the Arctic. It can make it possible for the US to improve operations specifically in the Arctic, making it possible to track Russian icebreakers, submarines and warships in the Arctic Ocean. This is significant as the uniquely harsh environmental conditions of the region have made it near-impossible to safely collect important data through unmanned remote observation.

The revolutionary capabilities of the MQ-9A aircraft when combined with the new technology of the LAISR observation system will pave the way for future security and surveillance missions in the Arctic region. The Arctic , The Financial Times. Take 4: A conflict has emerged between the importance of oil and gas exports for the Norwegian economy, and the growing environmental resistance from environmental groups such as Greenpeace, and Nature and Youth, and the new EU proposal.

This stance has support from Russia, who is keen to pursue its own Arctic oil ambitions. With the largely untapped Barents Sea representing up to half of unexplored Norwegian oil stocks, it will be hard to compel Norway to ban its Arctic oil exploration projects anytime soon. This week, on October 25, an opinion analysis was published in france24 and Phys. Dodds, K. Flag planting and finger pointing: The Law of the Sea, the Arctic and the. Political Geography,.

Opinion Survey Final Report. Environment Canada. Government of Canada improves weather and marine. Gautier, D. Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas in the Arctic. Globe and Mail The. Government of Canada. Government of Russia. Arctic until and Beyond in Russian. Retrieved, from. Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation in Russian.