Preserve legacy of open Arctic for all humanity

Source:Global Times Published: 2010-3-22 23:43:26

By Guo Peiqing

Global warming is changing the geopolitics of the Arctic.

Since Russia planted its national flag on the floor of the Arctic Ocean in 2007, the previously unchallenged Arctic has begun to loom large in international affairs.

Next Monday, Canada will host the second five-nation Arctic summit meeting in Chelsea, Quebec to discuss Arctic issues. It's a much-needed meeting to explore how this once disputed area will be arranged in the future.

The most popular opinion is copying the Antarctic Treaty over to its northern twin. The main ideas imitated would be freezing territorial claims, demilitarization, and strengthening scientific and environmental cooperation.

However, this has met with considerable resistance.

On May 28, 2008, five Arctic circumpolar nations, Russia, Canada, the US, Norway and Denmark, met in Ilulissat, Greenland. Their meeting resulted in the Ilulissat Declaration, which states that there is no need to develop a new legal regime to govern the Arctic Ocean.

Other Arctic heavyweights including the EU are keen to play a significant role in the Arctic. None of them desires to construct a new, unified treaty.

Where, then, can a solution to the problem of Arctic governance be found?

The most precious heritage of the Antarctic Treaty is the spirit of compromise. Without compromise, there can be no shelving of disputes over territory, no demilitarization, and no scientific cooperation in Antarctica.

Although the Arctic region cannot copy the Antarctic Treaty, it is feasible to borrow its spirit of compromise as well as the most important principle, freezing territorial claims.

The main disputes around the Arctic relate to continental shelf delimitation – the undersea extensions of the land that contain important resources and define the territorial waters owned by each nation – and navigational freedom.

Unfortunately, current international agreements are unclear on this issue.

The key words in the definition of the continental shelf are "natural prolongation," which means that the rock formation of the shelf must be the same as on the continent. Whether this is the case is often difficult to discover in the Arctic seabed, which is made up of many different formations and types of rock, and where exact geological data is hard to get due to the ice. Russia has made two appeals to extend its limits: one in 2001, which failed, and an ongoing case launched in 2009.

Concerning territorial sovereignty, Article IV of the Antarctic Treaty put forward the famous principle of freezing the status quo. That is to say, nothing in the Treaty requires contracting parties to renounce their previously asserted rights of or claims to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica, or affect their positions on the claims of other states. Further, the Treaty states that while it is in force, new claims and enlargement of existing claims may not be asserted.

A similar approach could be adopted in the Arctic. A rational course of action would be to "freeze" the outer continental shelf (beyond 200 nautical miles) in the Arctic Ocean. This way Russia and Canada needn't worry that the resources of the Arctic seabed will be exploited by others before they are legally allowed to extend their own territorial limits.

During the interim period, the proposed Treaty would prohibit exploitation of natural resources in this central area, and promote cooperation of scientific research and environmental protection. All sides would benefit from this compromise.

In the meantime, the proposed Arctic Treaty could implement navigational freedom. With the Arctic sea ice melting faster than expected, it is estimated that the Arctic Passage will open to commercial shipping sometime in the next decade.

The prospective Arctic Passage is the shortest sea route between three continents, Asia, Europe and North America. The Arctic Passage opening will change the pattern of world trade, and reduce substantially the shipping costs among the three major economic regions of East Asia, North America and Western Europe.

This would have an important influence on the existing international economic and geopolitical structure. In addition, Arctic shipping would cut the emissions of greenhouse gases, and is environmentally valuable.

The proposition of navigational freedom through Arctic Passage may be easier to have everyone agree to than other clauses. Even though the claim that the Arctic should be an international waterway maintained by US and European nations has not been agreed to by Russia and Canada, neither country actually opposes use of the Arctic passage by foreign icebreakers.

The proposed Arctic Treaty must call upon the non-Arctic states to take part in constructing a Neo-Arctic order.

This once ice-bound region is about to become an important passage for all of humanity.

The author is an associate professor at Ocean University of China. forum@ globaltimes.com.cn

 

 



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