Arctic Nations Decide How To Manage the Huge Oil and Gas Resources Ice Melt Reveals
Ice Melt (colorfulswallowtail.blogspot.com)
Arctic nations gathered on Thursday in a summit in the capital of Greenland, Nuuk, and discussed about ways to responsibly exploit the rich mineral and petroleum resources that are within their grasp now as the ice and the snow melt.
The Arctic Council, composed of eight countries surrounding the Arctic circle and representatives of the Arctic natives, signed the first binding agreement by which search-and-rescue responsibilities are split between the parties.
It is estimated that 25% of the world’s oil and gas resources, still undiscovered, are in the region of the Arctic pole.
The Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt stressed out that a number of challenges lie ahead as attention turns to this region as a result of the climate changes that reveal huge resources.
Bildt says that the discovery of the resources raises the expectancy of the people who live in these territories, and that they must be taken into account.
The Norwegian Foreign Minister adds that it is important that all the country around the Arctic abide by the same existing laws as the global warming and the change of climate will set the stage for a race for oil, mineral, shipping and fishing opportunities.
Ice Melt (colorfulswallowtail.blogspot.com)
Other issues addressed at this summit referred to protecting the shores from oil spilling, and the foreign ministers participating in it had a chance to see for themselves a melting glacier.
Russia is one of the countries that want to play a major role in the exploitation of the Arctic resources, having laid claim for a large portion of the icy territory in the far North.
