Melting Ice and Changing Landscape of the Arctic
The Arctic is seeing dramatic changes over last several decades as the region experiences increased air and sea temperatures, leading to decreasing extent of sea ice, decreasing glacial coverage over Greenland, degrading permafrost, increasing atmospheric water vapor, and increasing discharge from rivers.
The melting ice of the Arctic is significantly changing social, economical, and geopolitical landscapes of the region. Indigenous people of the region are seeing their way of life disappear as their homelands are washed away; commercial interest in the region is increasing with possibility of shorter commercial shipping through the Northern Passage and greater access to natural resources. These changes are also raising issues of sovereignty, security, and defense as Arctic nations seek sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the region.
Currently, there is no single regime which governs the Arctic. A framework for multilateral cooperation between the states, people, and environmental groups is needed to control the Arctic and its changing landscapes.
Geopolitical Landscape
The Arctic is without a single regimen to govern state behavior it is surrounded by eight highly developed states that compete for their own interests Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. Disputes over sovereignty such as determination of borders exclusive economic zones (EEZ’s) and access to marine passages are geopolitical issues that tend to dominate the most. Improvement technologies and market conditions have facilitated access to the Arctic regions natural resources. Climate change issues have affected the Arctic geopolitics. Melting sea ice cap is speculated to lead to increase usability of Northwest Passage for shipments of goods between Europe and Asia. Melting sea ice cap has also facilitated efforts to carry out mapping exercises.
Geopolitical issues are not exclusively conflicts over interest they also reflect cooperation amongst nations, multilateral initiatives such as the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy 1991 signed an agreement to protect the Arctics marine environment and conserves flora and fauna. The Arctic Council was established in 1996 and it takes on the functions which concern the environment, and which, social and economic matters are discussed.
Social Landscape
It is widely believed that the Arctic is one white, unending wilderness in which no life can survive. On the contrary, the Arctic regions have always been home to a variety of indigenous peoples for many centuries. The tribes who have lived in the Arctic regions of American Alaska, of Canada and the Danish territory of Greenland, in Norway, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and Russia have all evolved complex adaptations to their inhospitable surroundings, and demonstrated great resourcefulness in developing specialized skills to deal with their environment. They have proved expert at putting to a great range of uses what the land and sea provide, using every available scrap of skin, fur, flesh and bone to make food, clothing and implements. Out of this a rich, complex culture has grown. How it must have startled the first explorers of the Arctic, when they found a race not only well adapted to their circumstances but able to save the explorers from certain death when these circumstances threatened to kill them! Nonetheless, the skills acquired over millennia may soon become redundant. Global warming affects the Arctic at a rate twice as fast as the average, impacting the inhabitants of the Arctic, and changing lives and ancient customs. The consequences of global warming can already be seen, and have been measured in the behavior and the range of Arctic animals, as well as that of Arctic plants. Caribou and reindeer already have less access to their usual foods, as a result of changing patterns of melting and freezing snow. The herders and hunters who in the past have used frozen rivers as routes may not be able to do so in the near future, as the weather and temperatures alter. Thawing permafrost has begun to cause damage to the infrastructure of roads and buildings in Alaska and in Siberia. On the positive side, climate warming brings new kinds of work within reach of the indigenous peoples, and the opening up of the Arctic Ocean and the North West Passage creates a potential for new industries. Some of these, such as mining, may eventually become as important to the inhabitants of the Arctic as the more traditional industries, such as fishing, have been in the past.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mo_VA1_Vk0
Above is a link to youtube where I have found the speech made by Senator Wirth, President of the Better World Campaign and the UN Foundation, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs asked Timothy E. Wirth to testify at a hearing titled “Copenhagen and Beyond: Is there a Successor to the Kyoto Protocol?” Senator Wirth’s answer was “a resounding yes.”
According to the Better World Campaign, Senator Wirth in his testimony made several key points: “[First,] certain near-term steps would immediately contribute to solving the climate problem and help reach a global deal…. [Second,] the UN Foundation and the Center for American Progress just released a report that shows how energy efficiency, renewable energy, forest conservation, and sustainable land use worldwide could provide 75 percent of needed global emissions reductions by 2020…. [Tird,] these “core elements” of a new agreement would help developed and developing countries address strategic interests such as job creation, energy security and energy access, food security, environmental quality, and public health…. [But] most importantly, Senator Wirth emphasized that climate change is about more than proposals and metrics – it’s about people, too. To reach a successful agreement, we must move people to the center of the debate so politicians understand the global as well as personal effects on citizens worldwide.”
Arctic climate changes
- 2008 global temperature map shows accentuated increase in the Arctic region
- Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme – Working group of the Arctic Council
- Record Arctic Ice extent minimum of 2007
- Catlin Arctic Survey Expedition
Geopolitics
Natural Resources
Poster: Changing Arctic Landscapes
