The Arctic includes sizable natural resources (oil, gas, minerals, forest—if the subarctic is included—and fish) to which modern technology and the economic opening up of Russia have given significant new opportunities. The interest of the tourism industry is also on the increase.
The Arctic is one of the last and most extensive continuous wilderness areas in the world, and its significance in preserving biodiversity and genotypes is considerable. The increasing presence of humans fragments vital habitats. The Arctic is particularly susceptible to the abrasion of groundcover and to the disturbance of the rare reproduction places of the animals that are characteristic to the region. The Arctic also holds 1/5 of the Earth's water supply.
Russian Gets Ready for War over Arctic Oil and Gas
Russia prepares for war in Arctic over its oil and gas reserves[1] according to the country's new national security strategy approved by Russian Security Council on 13 May 2009. The strategy identifies the intensifying battle for ownership of vast untapped oil and gas fields around its borders as a source of potential military conflict within a decade. It states, “The presence and potential escalation of armed conflicts near Russia’s national borders, pending border agreements between Russia and several neighbouring nations, are the major threats to Russia’s interests and border security… In a competition for resources it cannot be ruled out that military force could be used to resolve emerging problems that would destroy the balance of forces near the borders of Russia and her allies.” Less than ten days before the report Russia also declared that it was planning a fleet of floating and submersible nuclear power stations to exploit Arctic oil and gas reserves [2]. However United States, Norway, Canada and Denmark are challenging Russia’s claim to a section of the Arctic shelf, the size of Western Europe, which is believed to contain one-third of world's natural gas reserves and 4% of world's oil reserves.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
13 May 2009 was the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea's[3] deadline for countries to claim the seabed up to 350 miles from their coasts. Forty-eight nations have submitted claims to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, and dozens more made preliminary filings. Countries that missed the deadline risk losing any future claim.
The submissions filed with the UN exposed overlapping claims in contested areas such as the Arctic, the South China Sea and around the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
In 2008 the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf has granted Australia extended continental shelf areas around two of its sub-Antarctic island groups, and these extend into the Antarctic Treaty area and in total Australia has acquired some 2.5 million square kilometers of seabed[4].
