Bahauddin Foizee :
With the rapid melting of ice in the Arctic region, it is becoming a more accessible zone for commercial fishing, fresh water, minerals, coal, iron, copper, oil, gas, and shipping. Thus, the region is increasingly catching the world powers’ attention. Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Russia, Norway and the US – all have been registering their candidacy to the ownership of the region, which is believed to hold huge oil and natural gas resources. With such lust for resources by the western economic giants, there is the likelihood that the environmental order of the region and the globe will largely be disrupted.
The Arctic region is located around the North Pole and surrounded by landmasses of the aforementioned five countries. Since the Arctic region was inaccessible because of the layers of thick ice, there were less territorial disputes until the beginning of this century. However, ice are melting rapidly in the Arctic region because of the global warming, clearing this ice-covered region from ice. Such rapid melting of ice is making the region a more accessible zone for commercial fishing, fresh water, minerals, coal, iron, copper, oil, gas, and shipping. The estimates that the region could hold oil reserves at 13% of the global total of undiscovered oil, 30% of natural gas, and also other precious metals have paved the way for disputes. The ice of the region is already reduced by as much as 50% from 1950s. The region is warming faster than other areas across the globe. Climate change would make the extraction of oil and gas from the region much easier. The melting of the summer sea ice has also opened up trade routes between Asia and Europe through the Arctic Ocean; the same region where such trades routes were unimaginable even couple of decades ago. In 2007, the Northwest Passage between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans opened for a first time in memory.
As the region is becoming increasingly accessible, plenty of disputes have emerged among the aforementioned five countries centring the region. There are disputes regarding boundaries in the Beaufort Sea and the status of the Northwest Passage between the US and Canada; regarding Hans Island between Canada and Denmark (via Greenland); regarding the Lomonosov Ridge- a mountain range across the region among Canada, Denmark and Russia; and regarding the maritime border from the Bering Sea into the region between the US and Russia. Therefore, all countries surrounding the region are involved in disputes over who owns parts of the region. Alongwith these five Arctic countries, China and the UK are also involved in the dispute regarding the Svalbard archipelago, which happens to be within the region.
Although some of the Arctic countries that are claimant to the disputes have been attempting to come to a solution through the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), it is almost impossible to reach a constructive solution through CLCS and UNCLOS that would bind all the claimants to the Arctic disputes to abide by it. This is because, the CLCS and the UNCLOS cannot impose legally binding decisions or provisions for any maritime disputes. Therefore, the absence of a binding legal regime creates scopes for intense territorial disputes concerning the control of the resources in such a region that is becoming increasingly accessible.
In such prevailing scenario, all the claimant countries have been trying through other means to acquire their objectives in the region. Norwegian foreign secretary Jonas Gahr Stoere already expressed that the presence of military, naval forces and coastguard in the region is necessary. Canada planned deep water naval facility at Nanisivik, which lies at the entrance to the disputed Northwest Passage. Canada promised (under former PM Stephen Harper’s administration) to build armed ice-breakers, several patrol ships and several vessels in order to proceed towards gripping the Arctic. In 2011, Canada conducted large-scale military exercises in the region.
In August 2015, the US permitted Shell to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea, which falls within the periphery of Alaskan Arctic. The US Coast Guard has already deployed sophisticated ships, aircrafts and other maritime assets in the Alaskan Arctic for the duration of Shell’s drilling in the Arctic.
Through such presence, the US is trying not only to exploit energy resources of the Arctic region, but also to keep its military presence deep into the region.
On the otherside, in 2007, Russian scientists dived to the seabed in the Arctic Ocean and planted a titanium Russian flag (Russia claimed that it was flag of Russia’s ruling party) in order to beef up their claims. Russia has already moved to restore a Soviet-era military base and other military outposts in the Arctic. Earlier this year Russia stepped up Arctic military patrols from its Northern Fleet, involving 38,000 servicemen, more than 50 surface ships and submarines and 110 aircrafts. More interestingly, Russia is currently planning to jointly explore for oil in Russia’s Arctic fields with China, which is increasingly becoming a strong military power besides being an economic giant. Through such move, Russia is trying to make sure that Russia has a rising military power like China involved into its stake in the Arctic region so that such cooperation favours Russia at the time of escalation of any military conflict.
Military competition in the region is likely to increase with almost all the countries urging for increasing their deployments and exercises, and there appears little opportunity for diplomatic resolution of the disputes. Drilling, opening military bases and other aforementioned means that have been conducted by the claimant countries in order to grip parts of the region are going to harm the environment to a large extent.
Moreover, it is very alarming that the overall history of oil extraction in waters is full of oil-spilling into the water, damaging the environment and costing the life of species living in the water. Drilling in Arctic poses a grave risk to the region’s marine life, especially given the technical difficulties and environmental risks of extracting oil and gas from offshore Arctic fields.
As of yet, the Arctic region is largely untouched by mankind. However, with the ice caps melting, access to the Arctic oil and gas reserves, which is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, will be easier – a prediction that has already sparked a rush for ownership. It can be well presumed that without political agreement, the current non-hostile debate over the Arctic could turn into a violent confrontation.
It seems our globe does not lack reasons to engage in chaos. The first world war began as a European conflict, only to turn gradually into a world war. Likewise, if the Arctic oceanic region disputes are not resolved quickly, the consequences of such disputes could result in a larger military conflict that would not just involve the Arctic states, but would also drag a larger part of the world into this dispute. And for sure, the start of such war would mean the cold, yet beautiful, Arctic region would become the targets of war machines of the global military elites – destroying the environment of the region and the globe as well.
(Bahauddin Foizee writes on global affairs. He is lecturer at DCLE (Centre of University of London) and legal associate in a law firm.)
