Hillary Clinton In Arctic To See Impact Of Climate Change


arctic1Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a first-hand look yesterday at the way a warming climate is changing the Arctic, opening the region to competition for vast oil reserves.

Experts here estimate the value of the Arctic’s untapped oil alone — not including natural gas and minerals — at $900 trillion, making it a huge prize for the five countries that surround the Arctic if they can reach it.












In the case of those five countries, experts here estimate that their seabed rights together will encompass more than 90 percent of the Arctic, leaving a small central portion as high seas open to other comers.

Norway has already won UN approval for its claim to Arctic seabed and has begun producing oil in some areas.

Russia’s claim was rejected for lack of detailed documentation, but it is expected to return to the UN authority that manages the process with its claims this year or next.

The United States is not a signatory to the Law of the Sea Convention, so must wait for everyone else’s claims to be adjudicated, a process that officials say could take 15 years, delaying development of its area.

But even countries with no territorial claim to the Arctic are being drawn to the region because, as the ice melts, northern shipping routes are opening between Europe and Asia that cut the distance between them by 40 percent.

A big player is expected to be China, which already has made overtures to Greenland and Iceland, seeking not just access to minerals like rare earths and energy but also ports as its extends its trade lines across the Arctic.

“Everyone is interested in the moves that China is making,” said Gunhild Hoogense Gjoerv, a political scientist at the University of Tromsoe.

“I think it’s interesting because so often, for so long the Arctic has been ignored,” she said.

Analysts believe that as much as 70 percent of the trade that could in the future move across the Arctic between Europe and Asia will be to and from China.

Currently, that trade is tiny — just four ships two years ago and 32 ships last year — but some officials expect it to grow exponentially with as many as 600 to 700 ships a year by 2013.

And US officials believe that the thawing of the ice has significant military implications since more naval and air assets will be needed to protect sea lanes and other strategic interests.

Gjoerv, however, says fears of military conflict over the Arctic’s riches are overblown, because so many players have a strong interest in cooperating with each other.

“Just thinking about military protection is very narrow,” she said. “It just doesn’t take on board all the changes that are happening here.”

{AFP/Matzav.com Newscenter}


  1. How superficial. Antarctica is a continent with varying climates, just like any other continent.

    For example, you can’t judge the North American continent just by visiting. In December, New York assaults you with blizzards while Florida bakes you at 80 degrees plus humidity.

  2. I don’t think she’s looking only at the current temperature, but at land exposed that was never exposed before, etc.