Struggle for Resource and the Law of the Sea

In the span of one generation, the Arctic has become a prime area for the future development of the hydrocarbon industry. Among the potential resources are ninety billion barrels of recoverable oil, 1,670 trillion ft³ of natural gas, and forty-four billion barrels of liquid natural gas. Extraction of these resources, however, remains difficult due to the enigmatic legal situation of the Arctic. Nominally, claims in the Arctic fall under the United Nations Commission Law of the Sea, which is signed by all Arctic nations, excluding the United States. From a diplomatic perspective, the Arctic Ocean seems comparatively placid. Apart from the Hans Island dispute, there are no outstanding political issues.

Two polar bears walking across the ice in the Arctic. The declining icescape prevents polar bears from reaching many hunting areas and, as a result, their access to crucial food supplies is becoming limited (Shutterstock)

But beneath this smooth surface lies a fraught international impasse. Unlike the Antarctic (Southern Ocean), there is no comprehensive legal agreement among the nations claiming sovereign rights. Therefore, the economic and legal boundaries of the various nations remain uncertain. These challenges are exacerbated by the issues of environmental stewardship raised by the prospect of new development. The Ilulissat Declaration of 2008 made by the five Arctic nations directly bordering the ocean (United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark) commits them to protecting the Arctic environment.

The Arctic Council is the main international organization attempting to resolve these diplomatic issues. Established in 1996 by the Ottawa Declaration, the council is composed of eight Arctic nations and six indigenous organizations with the goal of pursuing peaceful development in the Arctic Ocean. Still, the existence of the Arctic Council has not stopped nations from engaging in unilateral acts to bolster their claims. Russia, for instance, in 2007, placed its flag on the seabed below the North Pole. The legal issue at stake is the extent of these nations’ various continental shelves and therefore rights to an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

An EEZ normally extends 200 miles beyond a country’s borders. Nations situated on continental shelves are allowed a continuance of this zone. Within an EEZ, a nation has the complete right of resource extraction. Geographical surveys are currently ongoing throughout the interested national parties to come to a fuller understanding of the Arctic. Such surveys, however, must first seek the approval of the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The future development of the Arctic remains contested and will remain so until the international community comes to a legally binding agreement regarding the territorial boundaries of EEZs and other outstanding issues. Sarah Nicole Edelsohn, Juliet Glennon, Dylan Jarvis, Andrew Vierra, and Rainer F Buschmann

FURTHER READING:
CAFF Arctic Biodiversity Assessment. 2013. “Status and Trends in Arctic Biodiversity.” Akureyri: Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna. https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls = en &q=CAFF+Arctic+Biodiversity+Assessment.+2013.+%E2%80%9CStatus+and+Trends+in +Arctic+Biodiversity.%E2%80%9D+Akureyri: + Conservation + of+Arctic+Flora+and+F auna.&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8. Accessed April 14, 2017.

Campbell, Megan L. 2008. “United States Arctic Ocean Management and the Law of the Sea Convention.” U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, OCEANIS. http://www.gc.noaa.gov/documents/US_Arctic_Ocean_Mgt_08-05-08.pdf. Accessed April 8, 2017.

Chance, Norman A. 1990. The lnupiat and Arctic Alaska: An Ethnology of Development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Cinelli, Claudia. 2011. “The Law of the Sea and the Arctic Ocean.” Arctic Review on Law and Politics 2 (1): 4-24.

Dodds, Klaus. 2014. “Squaring the Circle: The Arctic States, ‘Law of the Sea,’ and the Arctic Ocean.” Eurasia Border Review 5 (1): 113-24.

Dodds, Klaus and Mark Nuttall. 2015. The Scramble for the Poles: The Geopolitics of the Arctic and Antarctic. Cambridge, UK: Polity Books.

Durack, P J., S. E. Wijffels, and R. J. Matear. 2012. “Ocean Salinities Reveal Strong Global Water Cycle Intensification during 1950 to 2000.” Science 336 (6080): 455-8.

Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. 2006. Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration. New York: W W Norton.

Hayes, Derek. 2003. Historical Atlas of the Arctic. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Henriksen, Tore. 2016. “The Arctic Ocean, Environmental Stewardship, and the Law of the Sea.” UC Irvine Law Review 6 (3): 61-82.