Coming on the heels of a UCLA study reporting that new trans-Arctic routes could be open to shipping by mid-century, Huigen Yang, the Director Polar Research Institute of China, met with Iceland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Össur Skarphéðinsson, on March 15 to discuss northern shipping. Both countries stand to benefit if the Northern Sea Route is developed: China, […]
Last month, I participated in a Stockholm Arctic Seminar on Asian Arctic expansion put on by Mistra Arctic Futures at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). The first panelist to speak was Piotr Graczyk, a researcher and PhD candidate from the University of Tromsø. He discussed the history and operations of the Arctic Council. Karl Hallding, […]
Canada, the upcoming chair of the Arctic Council, has named Patrick Borbey as the new chair of the group of Senior Arctic Officials. His role will be to work with the SAOs from the other seven permanent member states along with representatives from indigenous organizations. Borbey will still retain his title as head of the Canadian […]
Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose announced today that the Canadian government has signed a $288 million definition contract with Irving Shipbuilding for Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships (A/OPS). The definition contract will allow Irving Shipbuilding to design the ships and their electronics and mechanics up to a production level. A separate contract will […]
A new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Dr. Laurence Smith and Scott Stephenson of UCLA’s Geography Department reports that new trans-Arctic shipping routes will be navigable during the summer by midcentury. The authors found that first, common open-water ships will be able to transit the Northern Sea Route […]
Northern diplomats and policymakers like to reinforce the notion of cooperation in the circumpolar north, and Denmark’s Arctic Ambassador Klavs Holm is no different. On Thursday, speaking at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, he complimented the council’s camaraderie, noting, “There’s a very good atmosphere. I never experienced anything quite like it in […]
Yesterday, I attended a talk by Dr. David Pinder, Reader in Geography at Queen Mary, University of London, at Cambridge University’s Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. His presentation was entitled, “Fluid cities: circulation and the politics of mobility.” Dr. Pinder touched on a number of ideas related to mobilities, such as fixities […]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to Oslo this week to meet with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the euro crisis and energy issues, including cooperation in the Arctic. This was the pair’s fifth meeting in nine months. Stoltenberg stressed the importance of German and European companies in assisting with the development of the Arctic […]
For anyone in Stockholm at the moment, I’ll be participating in a seminar today, Tuesday, February 19 at 2:00 pm at KTH on Asian interest in the Arctic, specifically the Arctic Council. The seminar will also be webcast at: http://www.arcticfutures.se/?event=stockholm-arctic-seminar-asian-arctic-expansion My talk will focus on South Korea’s interests and role in the circumpolar north.
Royal Dutch Shell has announced that it will be dry towing its two drill ships anchored in Alaska to ports in Asia for repairs. This means that it likely won’t be drilling in the Alaskan Arctic this summer unless the fixes are somehow completed in time. Two ships are needed whenever drilling is taking place: […]
Australia and the Arctic aren’t often mentioned in the same sentence. One tends to hear more about Australia and Antarctica, since the country has an Antarctic Division and carries out scientific research at the icy continent not so far away from Tasmania. But I think that a comparison of Australia and the Arctic, particularly the […]
Greenpeace Canada has obtained a draft of the Arctic Council’s Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution that officials have claimed is genuine. In a press release on Greenpeace’s website, Christy Ferguson, Arctic project leader for Greenpeace Canada, called the 21-page agreement “effectively useless.” She stated, “Despite promises that this would be the first legally-binding agreement of its […]
At the Arctic Frontiers conference, attendees had the opportunity to listen to numerous government and NGO representatives from Russia speak in their own language. If my memory serves me correctly, the Russians were the only ones who spoke in their own language, as the people from the Nordic countries and Asia all spoke in English. […]
“Do you see an ocean of opportunities or a picture of climate change?” This is the question Maren Esmark, the General Secretary of Naturvernforbundet (Friends of the Earth Norway), asked during her speech at the Arctic Frontiers conference. I’m guessing that many of the conference attendees, particularly, government ministers and representatives from oil and gas companies, would […]
On the first day of the Arctic Frontiers conference, Lieutenant Governor of Alaska Mead Treadwell gave a speech full of metaphors heralding a “new age of Arctic global shipping.” In the “geopolitics of a new ocean” (a phrase ripe for unpacking), he called for making the Arctic “safe, secure, and reliable at sea.” A “Lasting […]