IMUN General Assembly Topic A

Conflicts
over the North Pole
Definition of Arctic region

The Arctic region comprising the Arctic Ocean and all surrounding land covers an area
that 16 of Worlds landmass . It is home to four million people. 80% of Arctic inhabitants are
Russian by nationality, but most of the Arctic lands belong to the Canadian Arctic Archipelago,
also referred to as Northern Canada (550,000 million square km). Arctic boundaries are dicult to
draw. The delineation of boundaries between Arctic states remains therefore an unresolved
matter.

The current situation in the North Pole

C u r r e n t l y, t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
in 1996 outlines many of the sea borders, and
all but one of these countries that are trying to
gain access to the Arctic have ratified the
UNCLOS, the US on the other hand, signed
but have not ratified due to it objected to Part
XI of the Convention. The countries that
ratified the UNCLOS have 10 years to submit
claims to an extended continental shelf which,
if validated, gives it exclusive rights to
resources on or below the seabed of that
extended shelf area.

It is now known that 20% of the undiscovered

petroleum now lies beneath the unassuming
ice blocks as well as other resources such as
natural gas, uranium, gold and so on. It
currently also produces one tenth of the
worlds oil. These abundance sources of
resources led to claims made by the five Arctic
countries in order to extend or to modify the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) to suits their
development plans. Yet, the North Pole does not belongs to any country, and the EEZs are
currently limited to 200 nautical miles adjacent to their coast.

It is also important to understand that under the current threat of global warming and the
inevitable pollution that comes along when exploiting the resources may damage the pure waters,
which accounts for one-fifth of the worlds freshwater and several of the worlds largest rivers.
While global warming and pollutions does bring challenges to the Poles, it does bring
opportunities that countries could exploit to their advantages.

The North Poles was also intended to be used as an international seaway shortcut to link
Asia and Americas. On 2007 the European Space Agency reported ice loss had opened up the
Northwest Passage "for the first time since records began in 1978", and the extreme loss in 2007
rendered the passage "fully navigable". Further exploration for petroleum reserves elsewhere in
the Arctic may now become more feasible, and the passage may become a regular channel of
international shipping and commerce if Canada is not able to enforce its claim to it.

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Resources in the Arctic region

As it has been said on the above
paragraphs, resources are abundance under
the Arctic, some even claims that the Arctic
contains more value than the US economy
combined. And one of the most hotly
contested area, might by the Lomonosov
Ridge, which is spans 1,800 miles and divides
the Amerasian and Eurasian basins. Both
Canada and Russia claim that resource-rich
ridge is a natural extension of their continental
shelves. Russias 2001 claim to the Ridge was
rejected by the United Nations, but the rulings
did not stop Russia and planted their tricolour
under the North Pole in 2007.

The best estimate on what lies under
the ice, was a research done by U.S.
Geological Survey in 2008, stating that the
institution believes that there are about 90
billion barrels of oil and 1,669 trillion cubic
feet of natural gas in the Arctic. Multiply those
quantities by the 52-week price highs for the
commodities ($105.55 per barrel for oil and
$4.87 per million BTU for natural gas), and the
Arctic reserves of oil and gas could be worth
$9.1 trillion and $8.1 trillion, respectively.

The Arctic Region is also rich in various minerals and ores, the Kola Peninsula for example,
houses a number of elements of interests, which includes copper, iron, nickel, cobalt, titanium,
rare metals, ceramic raw materials, mica and precious stones.

Pollution at Arctic Region

Due to the Arctic Regions immense size, inhabitable environment and its distance from
civilization, it is always believed that the North Pole is a pristine environment with minimal
pollution. However, there are several major types of environmental impacts in the Russian Arctic
as a result of disposing of waste during oshore oil and gas mining activity, smelting of ore
deposits to produce metals and nuclear weapons testing. In such areas, the landscape is often
degraded to a barren wilderness as far as the eye can see.

Also, due to the prevailing worldwide sea and air currents, the Arctic area is the fallout
region for long-range transport pollutants, and in some places the concentrations exceed the
levels of densely populated urban areas.

Climate Change at Arctic Region

The eects of climate change in the Arctic include rising temperatures, loss of sea ice, and
melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the period of 1995-2005 was
the warmest decade in the Arctic since at least the 17th century, with temperatures 2 C (3.6 F)
above the 1951-1990 average. This warming has been caused not only by the rise in greenhouse
gas concentration, but also the deposition of soot on Arctic ice. Average temperatures in the
Arctic region are rising twice as fast as they are elsewhere in the world.

One immediate eect of this increase in temperature is the melting of ice in the Arctic
Region, the polar ice cap as a whole is shrinking.Images from NASA satellites now show that the
area of permanent ice cover is contracting at a rate of 9 percent each decade. If this trend
continues, summers in the Arctic could become ice-free by the end of the century.

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This obviously aects many, which includes native people, wildlife and plants. When the
Ward Hunt Ice Shelf splintered, the rare freshwater lake it enclosed, along with its unique
ecosystem, drained into the ocean. Polar bears, whales, walrus and seals are changing their
feeding and migration patterns. The native people of the Arctic view global warming as a threat to
their cultural identity and their very survival.

Past UN Actions: UNCLOS

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention,
is the international agreement that resulted from the third
United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which
took place between 1973 and 1982. The Law of the Sea
Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of
nations with respect to their use of the world's oceans,
establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment,
and the management of marine natural resources.

The UNCLOS was written to replaces the older and
weaker 'freedom of the seas' concept, dating from the 17th century: national rights were limited to
a specified belt of water extending from a nation's coastlines, usually three nautical miles,
according to the 'cannon shot' rule. All waters beyond national boundaries were considered
international waters: free to all nations, but belonging to none of them.

The most significant issues covered in the UNCLOS were setting limits, navigation,
archipelagic status and transit regimes, exclusive economic zones (EEZs), continental shelf
jurisdiction, deep seabed mining, the exploitation regime, protection of the marine environment,
scientific research, and settlement of disputes.

As defined by the UNCLOS, states have ten years from the date of ratification to make
claims to an extended continental shelf. On this basis the five states fronting the Arctic Ocean Canada, Denmark, Norway, the Russian Federation, and the US must make any desired claims by
2013, 2014, 2006, and 2007 respectively. And since the US has yet to ratify the UNCLOS, the
date for its submission is undetermined at this time. As of now, only Canada, Norway and Russia
have filed claims to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in 2013, 2006
and 2001 respectively.

To settle all issues relating to the law of the sea, in a spirit of mutual understanding and
cooperation, for the problems of ocean space are closely interrelated and need to be considered
as a whole, and that the area of the seabed and ocean floor and the subsoil thereof, as well as its
resources, are the common heritage of mankind, the exploration and exploitation of which shall be
carried out for the benefit of mankind as a whole.

Questions a Resolution Must Answer ( QARMA )

1. How to solve the current territorial disputes in the Arctic Regions around North Pole?

2. Is exploiting the resources near Arctic Regions allowed? Or should it be banned for
environmental reasons?
3. How to solve global warming? What is to be done to slow the environmental impact to the
human race?
4. Is there a flaw or weakness in the UNCLOS? If so, how to improve on them?

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