The Ilulissat Conference

Ministers of the five Arctic countries (Russia, the U.S., Canada, Denmark, and Norway), meet tomorrow at Ilulissat on Greenland's Baffin Bay coast, to discuss ways to reconcile territorial claims: Arctic powers hold summit in Greenland (AFP, May 27). 

The conference was arranged by Denmark.  Kim McLaughlin describes the objectives: Greenland hosts Arctic sovereignty talks (Reuters, May 27):

Denmark has urged all involved to abide by United Nations rules on territorial claims and hopes to sign a declaration that the United Nations would rule on any disputes.

Environmental groups have criticised the scramble for the Arctic, saying it will damage unique animal habitats, and have called for a treaty similar to that regulating the Antarctic, which bans military activity and mineral mining.

The five nations plan to discuss not only territorial claims, but also cooperation over accidents, maritime security and oil spills. Moller said that as the ice sheet shrinks, icebergs will form and pose serious threats to shipping.

The U.K.'s Telegraph also contrast's the Danish agenda with an environmentalist agenda:  Countries to decide on Arctic Ocean ownership (Charles Clover, Environment Editor, May 27):

Denmark has urged all those involved to abide by UN rules on territorial claims and hopes to sign a declaration that the UN would rule on the disputes. Both it and Norway have said there is no need for a special treaty.

Environmentalists say there needs to be stricter rules as there are no techniques available for dealing with an oil spill on the ice.Dr Neil Hamilton, the director of WWF International's Arctic programme, said: "What we need now is a new legal mechanism for Arctic governance to protect this most critical and vulnerable marine environment."

Here's the WWF statement in full: Arctic protection needs new approach: WWF (May 27).

Russia, Norway, and Denmark sent their foreign ministers, while the U.S. and Canada sent somewhat less senior officials - the Deputy Foreign Minister in one case and the Minister of Natural Resources in the other.

On his way to the conference, Russia's foreign minister downplayed the political significance of last summer's expedition to plant the Russian flag at the North Pole: Russia dismisses Arctic flag-planting, compares it to U.S. move on moon (The Canadian Press, May 27):

"You shouldn't't be in this fascinating game of treating this particular, scientific, human achievement as anything else," he told reporters....

"There is no claim for any territory. There couldn't't be because as I said there is a sea convention, there are mechanisms created to implement this conventions, including for the continental shelf," Lavrov said.

The political leader of Danish Greenland caused some minor waves the night before the conference by reiterating Danish claims to Han Island: Greenland premier snubs Canada's claim to Hans Island(Randy Boswell , Canwest News Service, May 27).

Note: See the follow-up post to this, summarizing the results of the Conference: The Ilulissat Declaration.

Comments

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I always find it most interesting these "key messages" that come out of conferences. If there were any strong objections, would they have even been heard? I doubt it. And the conference was so disorganized that attendees, much less the people writing the statement, found it hard to find and listen to the talks they were interested in. Too many parallel sessions with conflicting talks!