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A SCRAMBLE FOR THE ARCTIC? HOW MELTING ICE IS SHIFTING THE FOCUS OF INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING AND GEOPOLITICS By Luke McWatters
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limate change is melting the Arctic sea-ice. This has been going on for a long time, but it is happening much faster than previously thought. Since the 1980s the polar ice caps have receded by about 30%. This trend is expected to continue. The receding ice brings governments and firms new environmental worries, but also new economic opportunities. Beneath the Arctic there are massive deposits of natural resources. Meanwhile, on the surface melting ice means waters are increasingly navigable, potentially allowing for shorter Europe-Asia transports across northern waters. The expansion of economic activity in the Arctic is fraught with environmental and geopolitical risk. The Arctic is home to a wide array of unexplored biodiversity which could be under threat from increased human activity. There are also numerous indigenous communities living in the region whose way of life might be threatened. Furthermore, the borders are poorly defined, which has left governments scrambling for influence over a new economic frontier.
FIGURE 1: Map of Arctic ice melting. (Humpert and Raspotnik, 2012, The Arctic Institute)
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