Arctic Economics

The Stoltenberg Report

Last June, the Nordic foreign ministers asked Norway's former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Thorvald Stoltenberg, for ideas to encourage closer foreign affairs and security cooperation over the next 10 to 15 years. 

Now we have it:  Nordic Cooperation On Foreign and Security Policy.  Stoltenberg's 13 proposals are his own work, based on conversations with politicians and experts; this is not the result of committee deliberations and there was a very limited staff.  These will be developed further in coming weeks and will be taken up at a meeting of the Nordic foreign ministers in Reykjavik this spring (Stoltenberg Report Presented to Nordic Foreign Ministers).

Not all of the proposals deal with the Arctic, but many do.  In summary:

New U.S. Arctic Fishery Management Plan

Area covered by the new Arctic Fishery Management Plan Source: Council's Draft Arctic FMP.

On Thursday, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to adopt a Fishery Management Plan for the Arctic.  There's currently some limited commercial and subsistence fishing managed by Alaska in her state marine and internal waters, but none, or no more than trivial amounts incidental to the state fisheries, in Federal waters (starting three miles offshore).  Moreover, there is probably little or no current interest in fishing in Federal Arctic waters.

The new plan effectively prohibits commercial fishing in Federal waters for now, and creates mechanisms to ensure that if there is interest in the future, any fishing develops in a way that takes account of the impacts on fish stocks and on other parts of the ecosystem.

Wesley Loy of the Anchorage Daily News reports here: Council Outlaws Arctic Fisheries.  Here's the draft Fishery Management Plan: Fishery Management Plan for Fish Resources of the Arctic Management Area, and here's the analysis.

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Does NATO have a role in the Arctic? What is it?

In late December, NATO's Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, gave a keynote address at a Reykjavik seminar on "Security Prospects in the High North."   Does NATO have a role in the Arctic.  He thinks so:

The New U.S. Arctic Policy Directive

On Monday the Bush administration released a 3,800 word document serving as both a Homeland Security and a National Security Presidential Directive on U.S. Arctic Policy: Arctic Region Policy.  This is a statement of executive intent, relevant to the extent that the executive has discretion to take action.  One part is simply a recommendation to the Senate: ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty.

Much of the directive is pretty innocuous: the U.S. is an Arctic nation, the U.S. has security interests in the Arctic, it needs to increase infrastructure and security assets in the region, development should take account of environmental concerns, more scientific research is needed, international cooperation is important.  A few points stand out, although none should be surprising:

Does Canada face a European Challenge in the Arctic?

In late November the European Commission released a discussion paper called "The European Union and the Arctic Region." The Commission news release describes the paper as a first step towards an E.U. Arctic policy.

Among other things, the paper recommends that, "...Member States and the Community should defend the principle of freedom of navigation and the right of innocent passage in the newly opened routes and areas."

Canada considers the straits of the Northwest Passage to be her own internal waters.  Some Canadians think the reference to "freedom of navigation" suggests a threat to this Canadian position.  Mark Collins has a helpful set of links to the Canadian debate over at The Torch:The Arctic and the Northwest Passage: The Euro threat.

Scientific American Polar Coverage

Scientific American has posted several short articles on polar topics on its web site: The Future of the Poles.  A couple have economic content and Arctic implications:

The E.U. Challenges the Premises of the Ilulissat Declaration

 

European Parliament Building in Strasbourg.  Source: Wikipedia

In May, ministers from the five nations with Arctic coastlines (Russia, Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, and the United States) met in Ilulissat Greenland and adopted a declaration on Arctic governance (The Ilulissat Declaration) whose key points were:

1. the unique relationship of the five coastal nations to the Arctic;
2. the Law of the Sea treaty as the key to the legal framework for development;
3. the legal framework is best implemented through national action by the five coastal states;
4. there is no need for a comprehensive new legal regime for Arctic development;
5. a role for "other users" of the Arctic - nations that do not use the Arctic evidently don't have a role..

Earlier this month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution saying, "Not so fast."  Tony Barber reports (Europe's Arctic Challenge):

Who's claiming what in the Arctic?

The International Boundaries Research Unit at Durham University in the UK has released an annotated map showing the different national claims: Arctic Maritime Jurisdiction Map. This is a useful reference - but no mention of any dispute over the status of the Northwest Passage.

The Ilulissat Declaration

Ministers from Russia, the U.S., Canada, Norway, and Denmark met in Ilulissat Greenland today to discuss the appropriate legal framework for the development of the Arctic (The Ilulissat Conference, Arctic Economics, May 27). 

The outcome was the two-page Ilulissat Declaration.  You can download a copy at the Danish Foreign Ministry website: Conference in Ilulissat, Greenland: Landmark Political Declaration on the Future of the Arctic.  The key text reads:

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).