ARCTIC IN 21ST CENTURY

Environment and Ecology Envirnment and Climate Change

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Recent Observations

One of the most dramatic effects of global warming is seen in the Arctic region. In recent years the ice in the Arctic Sea has been melting rapidly. In 2007, a large part of the Arctic Sea became ice free in summer months for the first time in living history.
The territories in the Arctic Circle regions of Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland have large minerals, particularly, the iron ore.
Apart from the minerals, the Arctic regions will emerge as a new source of fishing.

Consequences

The melting of the ice in the Arctic Sea has had two major geopolitical impacts:-

i. New shipping routes between the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the East, linking Europe with Asia in the north, have opened up. These consist of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the North West passage.

ii. Opening of the Arctic Sea has given way for resourcemapping in the Arctic region. The Arctic Sea is estimated to have as much 10 to 20% of the world’s oil and nearly 30% of natural gas.

Mineral exploration and exploitation is expected to pick up as Arctic shipping develops further in the future.
The region is already being called the ‘kitchen of Europe’. The releases of new lands as a result of melting of ice will lead to development of the agriculture in the region.
The opening of the new sea routes and the scramble for resources makes for new geopolitics.

India and Arctic

India’s engagement with the Arctic dates back to nearly nine decades when it signed the ‘Treaty between Norway, US, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Ireland and the British overseas Dominions and Sweden concerning Spitsbergen’ also called the ‘Svalbard Treaty’ in February 1920 in Paris.
Today India’s interests in the Arctic region are scientific, environmental, commercial as well as strategic.
In May 2013, India became an Observer at the Arctic Council,
India has a long tradition of polar research. It maintains a permanent research station in Svalbard. Much of the naval equipment India imports from Russia is based and tested in the northern regions of Russia.
The opening of the sea routes and the exploration of hydrocarbons present economic opportunities which Indian companies can also exploit.
On the negative side, the enhancement of economic activity in the Arctic Region will accelerate global warming and lead to large sea level rise impacting the global climate to which India cannot remain indifferent.

What is Arctic council?

The Arctic Council, an inter-governmental forum of eight countries — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US — set up in the 1996 to deal with Arctic issues has been transformed into an active organisation where the future of the Arctic might be decided.

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