057 ESCTER 12 E - ARCTIC ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES, ENVIRONMENTAL OBLIGATIONS AND SECURITY STAKES

Climate change is more apparent in the Arctic than it is in any other region of the world. Rapidly ice melt there is making this long inhospitable region accessible to all manner of economic and security actors in unprecedented ways. Arctic states and external powers (including the EU, NATO, and China amongst others) share a growing interest in developments in the High North. While there are concerns about the impact of climate change on this extraordinarily fragile environment, economic and geopolitical interests are also critical factors in shaping national approaches to the region. Arctic waters and continental shelves are rich in hydrocarbon resources, and a wide range of other minerals and fish can also be found in the region and are increasingly harvested there. States and non-state actors have been quick to understand the region’s economic and touristic potential, and international companies are accordingly developing a growing presence there. Investments in commercial opportunities in the Arctic, however, continue to be limited by legal, environmental and technological barriers although many of these barriers are being lifted. For example, Russia and Norway recently delineated their borderline in Arctic waters allowing both countries to begin to develop the energy potential of the region. That said, there are enormous obstacles and risks attached to operating in extreme environmental conditions, where potential accidents would be fatal. Arctic states and the international community have worked to improve the legal regimes governing Arctic waters and are also striving to improve search and rescue capabilities to ensure that any potential source of friction will not foment tensions that could undermine regional stability and environmental sustainability.

Finally, as the Arctic grows more accessible and as its potential economic value is increasingly recognized, it has become, once again, an arena for strategic rivalry and potential militarization. Moreover, many of the states that are interested in the Arctic are not littoral states and so this burgeoning Arctic “Great Game” can be framed as a potential arena for global competition and possibly even conflict.

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