Arctic nations have agreed to fight global warming despite tensions. The ocean is warming three times faster than anywhere else on the planet, indeed endangering what they call “summer ice”. The pledge to fight global warming was advanced on Thursday. The other major objective is to preserve peace in the region as its geopolitical importance increases.
Indeed, accelerated global warming, untapped resources, new maritime routes that were opened up by retreating sea ice, and the future of local populations topped the agenda as foreign ministers of countries bordering the Arctic gathered in Reykjavik, capital of Iceland, on Thursday.
“We are committed to advancing a peaceful Arctic region where cooperation prevails on climate, the environment, science and safety,” the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, told his Arctic Council counterparts from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden.
“The Arctic as a region for strategic competition has seized the world’s attention” but “rule of law must be ensured so that it remains a region free of conflict where countries act responsibly,” he added. The warming climate has opened up the Arctic for shipping, fishing, drilling and mining. China, an observer to the Council, has made no secret of its interest in the vast territory that is rich in natural resources and where retreating sea ice has opened up new maritime routes.
The geostrategic importance of the Arctic is considerable primarily because Russia has beefed up its military presence in the region by reopening and modernising bases abandoned since the Soviet Union collapsed in August 1991. Across the Atlantic, the United States of America has stepped up naval exercises.
“It is important to extend the positive relations that we have within the Arctic Council to encompass the military sphere as well,” was Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov’s fairly succinct observation at the meeting. The Arctic Council was set up 25 years ago to deal with issues such as the environment and areas of international cooperation, and its mandate explicitly excludes military security.
Thursday’s discussions were riveted to the effect of global heating. “The climate crisis is our most serious long-term threat with the Arctic warming three times faster than anywhere else on the planet,” the Canadian Foreign Minister, Marc Garneau, told the Council. That alarming data was part of a report published on Thursday by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), which also warned of an increased risk of the region’s sea ice disappearing completely in summer, before solidifying in winter.
At the previous Council meeting in 2019 in Finland, the Trump administration blocked the signing of a joint declaration for the first time since the Council was established in 1996, as it refused to include climate change in the final statement. The adoption of a joint statement on Thursday went without a hitch, as did the agreement of a 10year strategic plan for the first time in the Council’s history.