Arctic cooperation and politics
[2][1] Obstacles that remain include United States non-ratification of the UNCLOS and the harmonizing of all UNCLOS territorial claims (most notably extended continental shelf claims along the Lomonosov Ridge); the dispute over the Northwest Passage; and securing agreements on regulations regarding shipping, tourism, and resource development in Arctic waters.
Members include the eight Arctic countries: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and United States.
[3][1] In Nuuk, Greenland on May 12, 2011, ministers signed a Search & Rescue agreement, the Arctic Council's first law-bound treaty.
Foreign ministers of the five Arctic Ocean coastal states (Russia, US, Canada, Norway, and Denmark (Greenland)) met: The International Maritime Organization (IMO) was established in 1948 to develop and maintain a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping.
[8] Members include: Russia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Commission of European Communities.
The Caucus met in December 2010 in Barrow, Alaska; in Portland, Oregon in July 2011; and in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in August 2011.
The Forum's mission is to improve the quality of life of Northern peoples by using leadership networking to tackle common problems; and to support sustainable development and cooperative socio-economic initiatives.
OPA is responsible for formulating and implementing U.S. policy on international issues concerning the oceans, the Arctic, and Antarctica.
[15] In 2007, Russia planted a flag on the Arctic Ocean seafloor beneath the North Pole while performing research to substantiate its claim to an extended continental shelf.
In 2009, a Russian government policy document cited western reports of a potential for military conflict over Arctic resources.
[16] This policy document addresses various issues tied to the protection and development of the land and offshore waters of Russia's Arctic sector.
The Northern Dimension of European Union policy, established in the late 1990s, intended to deal with issues concerning western Russia, as well as to increase general cooperation among the EU, Iceland and Norway.
The European Union's application to become a “permanent observer” in the Arctic Council was blocked in 2009 by Canada in response to the EU's ban on the importation of seal products.
Other treaties governing all or part of the Arctic region: According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), coastal states have sovereign rights to resources in the water and seabed within a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
However, Article 76 of the Convention allows coastal states to extend their sovereign rights up to 350 nautical miles from their coastline if they can prove that the Arctic seafloor's underwater ridges are an extension of the country's own continental shelf.
[2] Denmark (Greenland), Russia and Canada may have competing extended continental shelf claims over the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain chain crossing the central Arctic basin.
[20][1] All cargo ships in Arctic waters over 500 tonnes are subject to the mandatory requirements for safety and protection of the environment under the Polar Code.
