One of the points that came up in last week’s post concerning the scramble for rare earth metals was the recent vote in the Parliament in Greenland to allow Uranium Mining. Greenland also recently gave permission for a new iron ore mine in the country and taken together the news highlights what a number of specialized companies, agencies and governments have known for a few years and that is the next big thing may be the arctic!
Global Warming is being felt very clearly in the arctic and that the amount of summer ice is dropping faster than many models predicted and according to NASA reached a minimum in 2012.
While not as important as the impact on the people and animals who live in the Arctic, today I will discuss two issues which are particularly hot i.e. development and shipping.
Development
The arctic region’s potential for oil, gas, and a wide range of minerals is enormous although compared to other parts of the world it is largely unexplored and not confirmed.
The issue, according to Pano Kroko, the President of the Environmental Parliament, is that as it becomes possible to access the arctic 3-4 months per year, then it will become increasingly economically viable to exploit its mineral wealth and increasingly important to protect its social and ecological wealth.
In a 2008 report, the United States Geological Survey estimated 90 Billion Barrels of oil and 1,669 trillion cubic feet of gas North of the arctic circle with 84% of that offshore!
Shipping
The other main impact of the decreasing ice is to open up the arctic for shipping. Today, shipping to and from China and Japan to Europe involves a long trip and often involves either the Suez or the Panama Canal.
There are two arctic alternatives. One route cuts across Northern Canada and Alaska is normally called the North-West passage. The other crosses Northern Russia and Siberia and is normally called the Northern Sea Route. Both have the potential to cut weeks off of shipping time between East and West.
Since the first voyage of a LNG tanker, the OB River, successfully made the trip from Hammerfest Norway to Tobata Japan in 2012 Russia has been actively promoting the Northern Sear Route and has reportedly given permits to 421 ships to make the trip with the obligatory escort of a Russian Icebreakers.
Last summer, the first Chinese ship, the Yong Shen made the trip from Dalian in Southern China to Rotterdam via the Northern Sea Route reportedly saving 13-15 days off the route through the Suez canal.
Who sits at the table?
While the arctic comes under the authority of the Law of the Sea, an organization called the Arctic Council was founded in 1996 in order to provide a forum for the arctic states which include Canada, Denmark (which includes Greenland), Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States. China, as well as a number of other countries and NGOs have observer status.
Kroko’s question, which will be picked up in later posts is how to manage this booming arctic development in a way that protects its fragile environment and the people who live there?