Arctic Economics

The Global International Waters Assessment

FYI:

The Global International Waters Assessment is preparing studies of the world's marine water bodies.  Studies are available for three Arctic regions:

Things Sell Better With Polar Bears

Coke began using the polar bear to sell soda late in 1993. Here's the first ad:

Nuclear activities in the Arctic

Philippe Rekacewicz, a cartographer with the UN Environmental Program, has mapped the last 50 years of nuclear activity in the Arctic (http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/nuclear_activities_in_the_arc
tic_over_the_last_50_years):

Here's his explanatory text:

Nuclear activities in the Arctic over the last 50 years. Numerous nuclear explosions have taken place in the Arctic. One of the largest military nuclear testing facilities is on the island of Novaya Zemlya, where from 1955 through to 1990 the Soviet Union detonated 88 atmospheric, 29 underground, and 3 underwater nuclear devices. Dozens of civilian 'peaceful nuclear explosions' have also occured in the Russian Arctic, where nuclear bombs were used into the late 1980's for seismic studies, mining, and in attempts to extinguish oil-field fires.

Russia's Melting Arctic

The melting Russian permafrost is giving up the bones of charismatic ancient megafauna, and spawning new businesses:

Back at Batagay airport, I share a bottle of vodka with three licensed mammoth-tusk dealers. A pair of tusks in good condition can fetch $35,000, so the melting permafrost has spawned a new, opportunistic cottage industry. The airstrip is too muddy for landing or takeoff, so my plane to Yakutsk is delayed, as is the helicopter the dealers have chartered to fly them to a village on the Sartan River, where one of their diggers has found a 130-pound tusk. The dealers employ 10 diggers and five craftsmen in Yakutsk who carve the tusks, and they move 3.5 tons of ivory a year. One ton goes to their craftsmen, and the rest ends up in Hong Kong, to be carved along with the tusks of poached African elephants. The Chinese nouveaux riches, already as numerous as the entire population of Japan, are clamoring for ivory statuary.

The Arctic Oil Rush (Alex Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair, May 2008, full text available online).  But who needs this:

Oil Spills in Arctic Ice: Hard to Clean Up

It'll be hard to clean up if there's an oil spill in Arctic waters: Concerns voiced about ability to handle spills in ice (Dan Joling, Anchorage Daily News, April 12).  The photo above shows a 2000 oil spill response exercise in Alaska's Beaufort Sea. 

Problems include:

"Alaska polar bears called doomed "

Tom Kizzia reports on new US Geological Survey research concluding that global warming and sea ice retreat are dooming Alaska's polar bear populations: Alaska polar bears called doomed (Anchorage Daily News, September 8):

Are Ribbon Seals Threatened or Endangered?

Ribbon seals are "charismatic megafauna." 

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has agreed that a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity to list ribbon seals as threatened or endangered provided enough information to justify a more detailed investigation.

The Center is concerned that,

The ribbon seal faces likely global extinction in the wild by the end of this century due toglobal warming which is resulting in the rapid melt of this species’ sea-ice habitat. Sea icerepresents the only substrate where ribbon seals rest, give birth, nurse their pups, and molt and where weaned pups rest as they learn aquatic proficiency and foraging skills. In addition to providing habitat for critical life cycle activities (reproduction, molting, resting), sea ice provides numerous other important functions for the ribbon seal, including isolation from polar bears and terrestrial predators, greater proximity to food resources, and passive transport to new feeding areas.

The Walrus and the Shrinking Arctic Ice Cap

Dan Joling reports on impact of global warming on walrus in Alaska: Walruses Abandon Ice for Alaska Shore. Melting Ice Pack Displaces Alaska Walrus (ABC News, October 4):

Problems for ringed seals

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wants to list the Polar Bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act: U.S. Wants Polar Bears Listed as Threatened (Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin, Dec 26, 2006). 

The FWS proposed rule makes it clear that global warming and the shrinking Arctic ice cap plays a big role in this: Polar Bear listing proposed rule (January 9, 2007).  Here is the FWS web page on polar bear issues: Polar Bear Conservation Issues.

A couple of days ago I posted on related problems faced by walrus: Bad news for walruses (February 25).  That post was based on a story by Dan Joling in the Anchorage Daily News.

Joling had a new article today, on the problems global warming poses for ringed seals - an important polar bear prey: Melting snow lairs put seal pups in peril (Feb 26, 2007)

Bad news for walruses

Global warming, and shrinking Arctic sea ice cover, may open up commerial opportunities (Over the top (of the world), Oct 10, 2005; North, to the Arctic, Nov 1, 2006)...

...but its bad news for walruses: Sea ice retreat dooms walruses (Dan Joling, Anchorage Daily News, Feb 25, 2007):