Who Owns the Arctic?

The dragon looks north

China grows hungry for Arctic resources and shipping routes as northern ice melts.

China has already invested $25bn to build an oil pipeline from Sibera [EPA] Michael Byers, AlJazeera.com, December 28, 2011

Vancouver, Canada - As the Arctic sea-ice melts, the Dragon looks to the north. China has a voracious appetite for oil, natural gas and minerals - of which the Arctic has plenty. The world's newest superpower is also the world's largest shipping nation, and well positioned to take advantage of shorter routes across an increasingly ice-free Arctic Ocean.

There is no unclaimed land available in the Arctic, because Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and the United States carved up the region centuries ago. But this fact doesn't discourage a resource-hungry China, which knows it can buy the access it needs.

Chinese state-owned companies have already invested tens of billions of dollars in Canada's northern tar sands. Three years ago, the Chinese government lent a Russian company $25bn so that it could build an oil pipeline from Siberia to China, which now carries 300,000 barrels per day. ...

For the full text, see: The dragon looks north 

Why Stephen Harper should fly to Greenland

Michael Byers, Globe and Mail, May 9, 2011

Stephen Harper is facing the first diplomatic dilemma of his new majority government.

On Thursday, foreign ministers from seven other polar countries will meet in Nuuk, Greenland, for an Arctic Council summit. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be there. So, too, will Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

But Mr. Harper doesn’t have a foreign minister to send. Lawrence Cannon was defeated in last week’s federal election, and a new cabinet won’t be sworn in for at least another week.

Inuit to stand together at summit on Arctic resource development

Bob Weber, Canadian Press, Feb. 20, 2011

OTTAWA - Inuit leaders from the circumpolar world are to meet in Ottawa this week to hammer out a common front on the development of Arctic resources including offshore oil.

"We share the same ocean, the same air, the same land," said Edward Itta, mayor of Alaska's North Slope Borough. "We have a lot in common and we're trying to build better bonds and forge them into a strong united effort to get our voices and concerns heard."

Arctic treaty will push Canada to upgrade rescue capabilities, experts say

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A view of the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent as it makes its way through the ice in Baffin Bay. An international agreement that divides the North into search-and-rescue regions comes as air and shipping traffic continues to grow in the Arctic. JONATHAN HAYWARD/THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press (Toronto Star, January 5, 2010)

The federal government is poised to sign an international treaty that will make Canada legally responsible for search and rescue in its part of the Arctic.

Northern experts say the deal, expected to be signed in May, could pressure Canada into upgrading its capabilities in the region. And, they add, it shows new resolve by the eight nations in the Arctic Council to show the rest of the world that they intend to set the rules for the uppermost reaches of the planet.

“By ratcheting up the capabilities of the Arctic Council, countries like the United States, Russia and Canada are essentially saying, ‘No, we have matters under control. We are making laws for this area. You can relax,’ ” said Michael Byers, an international law professor at the University of British Columbia who has written extensively on the Arctic.

Canada, take note: Here’s how to resolve maritime disputes

Sergei Lavrov and Jonas Gahr Støre, Globe and Mail, September 21, 2010

It is often said there are few truly untamed places left on Earth, but the windswept horizons of the Arctic surely qualify. Some political analysts maintain that the geopolitical landscape is equally harsh – a lawless region poised for conflict due to an accelerating “race for the North Pole.”

We disagree. Instead, we firmly believe that the Arctic can be used to demonstrate just how much peace and collective interests can be served through the implementation of the international rule of law. Moreover, we believe that the challenges in the Arctic should inspire momentum in international relations, based on co-operation rather than rivalry and confrontation, and we believe that important steps have already been taken toward this goal.

Arctic talks open amid protests

Judi Rever, Agence France Press, March 30, 2010

Talks on preserving the Arctic amid a race for its rich resources opened on Monday as protesters urged the meeting to focus on damage to the fragile region from climate change.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the summit in Chelsea, Canada, that "those who have legitimate interests in the region" should be heard amid anger from some countries and indigenous peoples that they had been excluded.

Arctic native leaders say they've been left out of summit

Randy Boswell, CanWest News Service, February 15, 2010

Canada's plan to host a five-nation Arctic summit next month is drawing fire from northern aboriginal leaders who say they're being left out of key discussions about the future of their lands and people.

Nunavut premier wants EU barred from Arctic Council

CBC News, April 15, 2009

Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak says the European Union should not be allowed to join the Arctic Council, given its proposal to ban the import of seal products.

The EU is one of several bodies that have applied to be permanent observers at the council, an intergovernmental forum comprising eight Arctic countries, including Canada and the United States, as well as Arctic indigenous groups.

Obama 'committed' to resolving Arctic disputes: Clinton

Sheldon Alberts, Canwest News Service, April 6, 2009

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday said the Obama administration is "committed" to ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, touting the decades-old treaty as the best way for Arctic powers to resolve competing territorial claims over the Far North's resource-rich seabed.

With global warming opening the Northwest Passage to increased navigation — and the potential for competition among Canada, the United States, Russia and other nations in tapping the Arctic's vast oil and gas reserves — Clinton said she's committed to a "high level of engagement" in negotiating future disputes over the region.

Cannon urges co-operation in changing Arctic

Canadian Press, March 11, 2009

WHITEHORSE - The Conservative government is stressing international co-operation to tackle circumpolar issues after three years of bristling assertions of Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic.

In a speech on the international dimension of Canada's northern strategy, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Wednesday that Canada wants a renewed focus on the role and importance of the eight-nation Arctic Council.