Arctic’d Off

For centuries, explorers dreamed of a great passage across the top of Canada, through a mysterious break in the ice that would lead commerce from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back again during the great summer thaw… or even at any time of the year. Vikings tried to penetrate the impenetrable, and some early explorers actually believed that saltwater did not freeze; they believed that a fresh water gap would connect Asia to Europe and fulfill Christopher Columbus’ dream of establishing that trade direct route to the “Indies” – he had to settle instead for discovering America. Oh well. Nobody’s perfect. Why would anyone think it were passable? “Captain James Cook had reported, for example, that Antarctic icebergs had yielded fresh water, (seemingly confirming the hypothesis), and that a route close to the North Pole must therefore exist. The belief that a route lay to the far north persisted for several centuries and led to numerous expeditions into the Arctic, including the attempt by Sir John Franklin in 1845. In 1906, Roald Amundsen first successfully completed a path from Greenland to Alaska in the sloop Gjøa. Since that date, several fortified ships have made the journey.” Wikipedia.

Well, with global warming, the Northwest Passage is becoming a reality. There appears to be every likelihood of a navigable waterway – during the warmer months – where you wouldn’t need lumbering icebreakers to crush their way through what used to be solid ice. Indeed in the summer of 2008, a commercial vessel, the MV Camilla Desgagnés, made the voyage quite easily, according to her crew. But of course, with this newly-noted natural phenomenon, the value of the Northwest Passage becomes incredibly greater, both strategically and commercially. Look who’s up there: Canada, the United States (Alaska), Russia, Norway with impacts on Scandinavia as well. So valuable in fact that as U.S. and Russian nuclear submarines have coursed through what Canada believes is their territorial waters on many occasions; more than one dispute has surfaced.

“On July 9, 2007, [Canadian] Prime Minister Harper announced the establishment of a deep-water port in the far North. In the government press release the Prime Minister is quoted as saying, ‘Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the Arctic. We either use it or lose it. And make no mistake, this Government intends to use it. Because Canada’s Arctic is central to our national identity as a northern nation. It is part of our history. And it represents the tremendous potential of our future’... On July 10, 2007, Rear Admiral Timothy McGee of the United States Navy, and Rear Admiral Brian Salerno of the United States Coast Guard announced that the United States would also be increasing its ability to patrol the Arctic... On April 9, 2006, Canada's Joint Task Force North declared that the Canadian military will no longer refer to the region as the Northwest Passage, but as the Canadian Internal Waters. The declaration came after the successful completion of Operation Nunalivut (Inuktitut for ‘the land is ours’), which was an expedition into the region by five military patrols.” Wikipedia. Russia laid certain claims (particularly as to natural resources), and the United States (along with the EU) took the position that these were “international waters,” open to anyone.

So on March 29^th, a meeting was convened in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, among senior diplomats from Canada, the United States (Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), Russia and Norway to discuss the opportunities to develop this new waterway under a more mutually controlled structure. In addition to the obvious shipping lane, the possibility of massive oil and gas reserves under the Arctic creates a level of huge potential... for conflict. Ms. Clinton was not even happy about the guest list to this conference: “Clinton noted that the three other nations in the Arctic region -- Sweden, Finland and Iceland -- had complained they were not included in the meeting. She said she also was contacted by representatives of indigenous groups in the area that had been left off the list.” I guess more voices would clearly make the case for a wider international view of the passage.

So as most the earth’s resources are identified and claimed as part of sovereign nations, even as most of our planet is under international waters, it is most interesting how the disappearance of islands, the opening up of new lands and waterways, and the reshaping of our globe by nature herself (with a few man-made disasters and calamities thrown in for good measure) will test the necessary diplomatic efforts as clearly friendly neighbors may get… well… unfriendly when it comes down to cold, hard cash.

I’m Peter Dekom, and “opportunity often breeds contempt.”