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Assemblée parlementaire de l'OTAN
HomeMEDIA RESOURCES201211 May 2012 - NATO PA DELEGATION EXAMINES ARCTIC CHANGE
11 May 2012 - NATO PA DELEGATION EXAMINES ARCTIC CHANGE
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Climate change is having a dramatic impact on the Arctic and myriad economic opportunities are opening up in the region as a result. But exploiting these opportunities introduces a whole set of new problems to the region including potential environmental catastrophes, renewed strategic rivalry among littoral and non-littoral powers, and search and rescue needs that outstrip critical rescue infrastructure in the region. |
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These were the key themes taken up by 26 NATO parliamentarians who visited Svalbard, Norway from 8-10 May 2012. That delegation consisted of members of the Sub-Committees on Transatlantic Economic Relations and the Sub-Committee on Energy and Environmental Security. The goal of the visit was to learn more about a range of economic, environmental, legal, and strategic changes affecting the Arctic region. Mario Tagarinski, the Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Energy and Environmental Security led the delegation. The visit to this Arctic Archipelago provided a unique opportunity for the parliamentarians to meet with Norwegian and international experts working on a wide range of Artic challenges. Members had an opportunity to visit critical sites on the island of Spitzbergen to gather a better sense of the myriad challenges Western governments face in the region. Lars Erik Alfheim, Assistant Governor of Svalbard, explained the archipelago’s unique status as defined by a treaty signed in Versailles in 1920, which accords full Norwegian sovereignty over the Svalbard, but gives signatories the same opportunities to commercial operations on the islands as Norway. There are currently 42 signatories to the treaty. Mr. Alfheim accompanied the delegation to the Russian mining community of Barentsburg to meet with Alexander A. Antipov, the local Russian Consul, who heads the world’s northernmost diplomatic mission. He provided a Russian interpretation of the treaty and discussed Russian commercial interests in several locations on the archipelago. The delegation was briefed on a number of other topics. This included the management of the Arctic region, with a particular focus on the Arctic Council; search and rescue institutions, capabilities, and challenges in the High North, which included a crucial practitioner’s perspective; Arctic research at the University Centre Svalbard; the provision of satellite services by the Svalbard Satellite Station; and climate change research in the polar regions. |
