Arctic defrost opens resources and divisions

The Australian ^ | January 30, 2006 | Anthony Browne, Davos

[Ben Mugged]

IT is covered by thick ice, plunged into darkness for much of the year, and blasted by freezing winds. But the Arctic Ocean is being transformed by global warming from a no-man's-land into the front line of a scramble for resources.

The melting of the ice pack is opening up vast reserves of offshore oil and gas, new shipping routes and fishing grounds, according to experts at the World Economic Forum.

But the scramble for Arctic wealth is complicated by arguments over which countries have legal claim to the territory, plus border disputes, including those between Russia and the US.

Eight countries -- the US, Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland -- have claims to the Arctic, while resource-hungry China has started showing interest.

Mounting tension over the opening up of the high north boiled over this week when Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper hit back at criticism from the US over his plans to spend $US5.3 billion ($7.07 billion) developing his country's forbidding Arctic coast, increasing its military presence and buying three new icebreakers.

"I've been very clear that we have significant plans for national defence and for defence of our sovereignty, including Arctic sovereignty," he said.

George Newton, chairman of the US Arctic Research Commission, told delegates at the conference of business leaders in Davos, Switzerland, that temperatures in the Arctic were expected to rise by 5.5C in the next 100 years, and that last year the Arctic ice sheet was smaller than ever.

"When we've been talking about climate change it's with concern, but we're talking about opportunity," he said.

[Ben Mugged]

Helge Lund, president of Statoil, Norway's state oil company, said a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil reserves, estimated to be 375 billion barrels, or enough to fuel the world for about 12 years, lies under the Arctic Ocean. "It will never replace the Middle East but it has the potential to be a good supplement," he said.

The rush for resources is on. What possible claim could China have to arctic resources?

[Restorer]

A very recent article showed that the thinning of the ice on which this prospect is based is just not happening.

[fat city]

Eight countries ...-- have claims to the Arctic, while resource-hungry China has started showing interest.

Oh boy- more lightning and tundra.