Arctic is the world’s smallest ocean. The Arctic region is commonly known as the North Pole. This ocean is encloses the area around the North Pole consisting of continental land masses and islands. The Arctic Ocean extends over 14.056 million sq km and during the majority part of the year the region is ice capped. The region has two divisions one constituting Deep Basin covered with ice and other constituting Continental shelf. The region is under populated. There are five countries which share their territories within the Arctic circle, i.e. Canada, Denmark, Russia, United States and Norway. This group of countries is collectively known as “ARCTIC” nations.

In the 20th century the North Pole was found to be of real significance in the geographical history for the Arctic comprised of approximately 13 per cent of undiscovered world oil reserves (90 billion barrels of oil) and 30 per cent of natural gas reserves (47 trillion cubic meters) and at the same time ice was melting due to climatic changes, the area became easily navigable.

The consortium addressing the common concerns and challenges faced by the Arctic governments and the people of the Arctic is the Arctic Council is an intergovernmental organization whose members include Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the United States

The Arctic remains one of the most untouched areas on Earth, but now as it becomes an intentional region for energy exploration and development; therefore it will be gradually more at risk from the combined effects of climate change and increased human activity. In the last few decades in Arctic, anthropogenic influences on the natural ozone layer have resulted in severe ozone depletion in Polar Regions. The Arctic is home to some of the world's most unique mammals, millions of migratory and inhabitant birds, a rich ice-edge community, and some of the world's major fisheries. As the climate is changing, Future climate change is likely to threaten both marine and terrestrial wildlife. From plankton to polar bears, many species could suffer or disappear entirely.

The arctic brings in the negotiations relating to environment accountability, maritime law, technical research & natural reserve administration.
Notwithstanding the truth that the states within the Arctic Circle advocate supportive policies and practices, most of the countries have declared that they will protect their interests and are proceeding to build up their military potential. The Arctic nations may face security issues in near future as the conflicting interests among all the players is leading to territorial disputes and disputed sovereignty of waterways and shipping lane. The present major confront is to check an arms race in the arctic. All the states are claiming some territory in the region so that they can exploit the natural reserves and can have better economic prospects. The actual debate is that - In this race for exploring natural reserves, which player should be allowed to explore such deposits so as to pursue its interest at the cost of disappearing global interest? Thus, for the economic interest of any one nation we cannot put the world over the brink of catastrophic climate changes as the scientists say that the extraordinary warming up in the arctic could have critical incidental consequences for susceptible people across the globe and moreover the world is not ready for another cold war or a disaster like the one in the Gulf of Mexico.


Topical Interests of Players in the North Zone Where Possibility of Co-Existence Seems Illusionary:
There is no particular treaty management for arctic. No country or group of countries has autonomy over the North Pole or the Arctic Ocean around it. The arctic contains large unexploited hydrocarbon reserves. All such resources are located inside the exclusive economic zone of the arctic states. The quest for fulfilling the different sort of interests makes issue of arctic add or die affair for all the international players.

Canada and USA have their territorial border in the Beaufort Sea, where the disputed territory is likely to be rich in hydrocarbon reserves and The North West passage is also the matter of dispute between both the states, as this is the shortest Northern route from Europe to Asia and is an international strait. For Canada arctic is a sovereignty issue, it also has issues with other states, such as Denmark and Russia

Norway and Russia have issues as they have their territorial borders in the Barents Sea which is rich in natural gas where such reserves still needs to be developed . Norway is one of the active members of the arctic council and has always come forward for the development of resources of the arctic region .Russia is expected to get a large amount from Arctic reserve extraction as it has the longest shoreline to the Arctic Ocean, i.e. a vast amount of territory in the arctic zone. It has already sent two twenty-six foot-long submersibles, Mir-1 and Mir-2, to the Arctic and also planted its flag on the seabed under the North Pole, symbolically claiming the region and all its resources.

Denmark also known as Greenland is a full time member of the arctic council. The title of the Hans Island, a much unoccupied island situated in heart of Kennedy channel, is in dispute between Greenland and Canada as it has deposits of natural resources and from here Northwest Passage is easily accessible. The dispute is puzzling because it has already been agreed that the island will have no territorial sea.

Whereas, Russia & US have their border disputes in the Bering Sea which requires that the agreements on maritime boundaries be revised so as to overcome the issues of boundaries. Russia is also in dispute with Canada and Greenland over the Lomonosov and Mendeleev Ridges.

Finland is a member of the arctic council, though it is not a coastal arctic state but has been a part of arctic history, therefore, it sees itself as the arctic player and its interests are justified on the grounds that it has one third of its territories lying to the north of the Arctic Circle

Sweden is a member of EU. Jointly with Finland, it is engaged in the Barents Euro-Arctic cooperation with Norway and Russia. Though it has very less approach towards the region in comparison to the other players in the race, it supports all the other non-arctic nations’ initiatives to become the observers of the arctic council.

Iceland is an active member of NATO and as the Arctic Circle passes through the small island of Iceland, it shows its interests and therefore is still a player to the arctic game.

There are many countries i.e. The countries which do not come inside the Arctic Circle like UK, Italy, Thailand, Germany, France ,North Korea, south Korea, Japan, India & China which are also showing there interests in this region because of the economic race leading to the quest for resources and visions of new trans-arctic sea routes in the North Pole. Where China Japan and South Korea are among the strongest non-arctic players .China has even built world’s largest, non-nuclear ice breaker. There are also international governmental organizations like European Union and major powers from outside the region which are showing interest in the north.

Effects on Climate Due To Exploration Controversy:
Arctic being a very sensitive area is intensely affected by the changing climate. Average temperature in Arctic is rising twice as fast as it is elsewhere in the world and is experiencing greater warming then the rest of the world, since 1950 parts of arctic have warmed by 4-5º. If such temperature changes continue, in the coming years the ice in the summers won’t be seen in the arctic. The people of arctic have observed the changing climate which has affected wildlife, ecosystems, human settlements, plants, life of the people and infrastructure of the region. Such climatic changes in arctic are also affecting the temperatures of the adjoining states. The implications of warming are difficult and it gives the governments and the world a wake up call to take some initiative right now.

Will The Activities Of The Players Trigger Global Warming?
The Global Warming is drift in the upward rise of standard temperatures. This causes extended climate patterns and rising temperatures in the arctic region. Such change in weather pattern of Arctic has been modified by the human activities. There was an enormous drop in temperatures of North Pole as reported by UAH and RSS data sets. Both of the sources indicated a drop in excess of 1.7° C in the northern region. It has been held that the atmosphere is warming over the past few years in the region, because of the rising global temperatures. If the game of arctic continues and players start with the exploration activities, it will end in production of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, hydro fluorocarbons, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride which will increase the atmospheric concentrations which will cause warming up of region due to the trapping of sun’s heat, which will result in the melting glaciers and melting of sea ice and rising of the sea levels. There are now more risks, challenges, and probable consequences of oil spills coupled with oil and gas exploration and production in the arctic. The world is not ready for another Gulf of Mexico like event. The bang of such a spill in the Arctic will be proportionally more due to lower temperatures and deficiency of sunlight that will slow down oil eating bacteria’s. It is beginning of the industrial game in the arctic with variable standards from country to country involving potential for accidents, where risk is so high that if the action is not taken in time, it will lead in potentially catastrophic and irreversible consequences. Unless there is an understanding as in how to respond, such oil and gas explorations should not be allowed or the licenses should be suspended. For instance, if we take into consideration the case of Cairn Energy which is currently carrying on its drilling activities in the Arctic. The government of Greenland has refused to release any of the spill response plans and company is also keeping silent over the topic. Cairn currently is holding 11 licenses in Greenland covering approximately 81000 sq. kilometers. Cairn also plans to drill at least 4 exploratory wells in the Baffin Bay in 2011, where some of them are in deep water, like the ones in Gulf of Mexico incident. Such case includes high risk factors which will put the whole world in danger.

Will Melting Of Ice Lead To Extreme Weather Conditions And Rising Sea Levels?
Its beyond dispute that the rising temperatures in the Arctic is causing global warming which results in melting of ice and glaciers at a faster pace with drastic implications. This is a major factor which may lead in rising of sea level. Finally, such climate alterations may influence overall weather patterns in the arctic, generating more repeated arctic storms and other severe weather events. Due to rising temperatures water will get heated up and the melted water will gush into the ocean, thus causing the sea level to rise, which threatens to encroach upon land. There are undiscovered treasury of oil and gas under Arctic, which have turn out to be easily accessible due to the melting ice, but if we explore this oil and gas with the new technologies, more and more carbon dioxide will be pumped into the atmosphere, again leading to greenhouse effect and hence causing global warming. Due to the ice melt the climate will turn harder and more undesirable which will cause more temperature differences which will ultimately result in climatic imbalances, which will provide it with more fossil fuel energy, drawing more conflicts for newly discovered territories among the interested nations.

What Will Be the Effect of the Above Two Conditions On the Areas beyond Polar Region?
The effect of the above problems on Arctic will be drastically on human security. The constant climatic patterns in the arctic are likely to affect the other parts of the world. The melting ice and glaciers in the region could add drastically to international sea-level rise and adding up of that fresh water to the salty oceans could change worldwide ocean circulation patterns. It will lead to a catastrophic rise in the world’s ocean levels endangering small island sates and other low lying areas. Arctic tundra also involves huge amounts of carbon, which could be released to the atmosphere during a melt, further ending in the greenhouse effect and global warming.

Prevailing laws and Governance system
Arctic council is the regional level pre-eminent body established in 1966 for Arctic. It maintains coordination and cooperation among the arctic states, by bringing them together. Its members are Canada, Greenland, Finland, Norway, Ireland, Russia, Sweden and US. Matters of common concern are discussed in the council. Though issues of environmental protection and sustainable development have been agreed upon in the council but there are some critics about the council that prove that it’s a weak intergovernmental organization with no permanent funding, depending upon voluntary contributions. There is no permanent secretariat till 2012 and as such having no legal status. Vast challenges of the arctic controversy cannot be assumed to be handled by such a weak setup where it neither has regulatory powers nor will be able to adjudicate territorial disputes because it has no binding decision making powers. The other point is that the arctic controversy involves nations outside the Arctic Circle on whom arctic council is not a binding force and other problems like depletion of ozone layer cannot be resolved without the cooperation of non arctic states. Moreover, it only provides soft guidelines for environmental problems, but implementation of such guidelines depends wholly on the national governments of the respected nations.

Barents Euro-Arctic Council was established in 1933, organization completely concerned with economic and social development of the Barents region. It was laid down by Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Finland and European commission, whereas US and Canada are just the observers.

BEAC is also weak organization to sort out the controversy of Arctic as it also lacks binding decision making power and will be therefore unable to settle disputes or enhance co-operation between the nations.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea comprises 320 articles and nine annexes, leading all aspects of ocean space, such as delimitation, environmental control, marine scientific research, economic and commercial activities, transfer of technology and the resolution of disputes relating to ocean matters. UNCLOS provides the countries with rights of “exclusive economic zone” with the extension of 200 miles and an additional extension of 150 miles offshore. The implementation part of UNCLOS becomes weak as Article 297 and Article 298 of UNCLOS, provides that states at anytime can make declarations specifying the forums for the settlement of disputes which they accept and there is no compulsory binding procedures for the settlement of disputes in certain cases like those which involve sea boundary delimitations, disputes involving historic bays and titles, disputes concerning military activities and where security council is functioning in any dispute, respectively. Therefore international interest is overlooked for achieving national interest. In this manner all the states are securing legal certainty according to their own wish where nobody binds them.

Conclusion
As the kick for unexplored resources continues, States should take an instantaneous action to discontinue this race otherwise it will lead to catastrophic consequences as the Arctic has a unique environment which may affect the ecosystem globally. This becomes a dilemma of Development versus Environment which requires instant focus on the global level. The countries ought to work with mutual understanding and must apprehend that they will gain more through cooperation than confrontation. Economies should shift from a fossil fuel economy to a one based on renewable resources. The nations should encourage world trade in clean technologies and movement towards sustainable development be proposed by each of them at national level. They should not overlook the long term benefits in order to gain short term profits. The national governments and oil companies should reduce or eradicate, direct, place based intimidation to bio-diversity from specific oil and gas projects and infrastructure. Renewable energy should be worked upon rather than hydrocarbon projects. There should be proper governance system with well defined jurisdictions and which should also work as to maintenance of number of oil and gas rigs and the exploration sites. Stringent action is required because the ozone is depleting at a faster rate now and we cannot put the whole world at jeopardy just because of the political will of the few. UNCLOS should be universally adopted. In arctic also UNCLOS rules should work at regional level through regional rules of protection. Arctic should also have a treaty similar in structure to the Antarctic treaty which should be binding on all including main objective of maintaining peace, prevent arms race and military actions and also to carry on research activity and exploration process with sustainable development accompanied with the environmental welfare at both the arctic level and global level.

Written by: Bharti L. An Intellectual Property and Oil and Gas Lawyer and Co-Author Vijaylakshmi, Student UPES, Dehradun

References
1. Data from the “US Geological Survey (USGS) report”. – „US Geological Survey (USGS) report“. http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1980
2. http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/arcticuv2.html
3. http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/final-report
4.http://www.canada.com/technology/Canada committal over position Beaufort dispute/2662672/story.html
5. Mike McDowell and Peter Batson, Deep Ocean Expedition, 2007, http://www.deepoceanexpeditions.com/FlagReport_Final_LR.pdf
6. http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/hansIsland/background.asp
7. http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/nato_countries.htm
8.http://www.jamestown.org/programs/chinabrief/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=34725&cHash=9638471049
9. ACIA REPORT
10. http://vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/data/msu/t2lt/uahncdc.lt
11.http://www.remss.com/data/msu/monthly_time_series/RSS_Monthly_MSU_AMSU_Channel_TLT_Anomalies_Land_and_Ocean_v03_3.txt
12. WWW.Pressandjournal.co.uk/Articles.aspx /2031202.
13. UNCLOS and the Arctic: the path of least resistance, Mark Jarashow, Michael B. Runnels, Twait senson, 2006
14. http://cogdebate.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/case-of-the-week-5-unclos/
15. http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_declarations.htm
# Data from the “US Geological Survey (USGS) report”. – „US Geological Survey (USGS) report“. http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1980.
# http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/arcticuv2.html
# http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/final-report.
# http://www.canada.com/technology/Canada committal over position Beaufort dispute/2662672/story.html
# Mike McDowell and Peter Batson, Deep Ocean Expedition, 2007, http://www.deepoceanexpeditions.com/FlagReport_Final_LR.pdf
# http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/hansIsland/background.asp
# http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/nato_countries.htm
# http://www.jamestown.org/programs/chinabrief/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=34725&cHash=9638471049
# ACIA REPORT
# http://vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/data/msu/t2lt/uahncdc.lt
# http://www.remss.com/data/msu/monthly_time_series/RSS_Monthly_MSU_AMSU_Channel_TLT_Anomalies_Land_and_Ocean_v03_3.txt
# WWW.Pressandjournal.co.uk/Articles.aspx /203120.
# UNCLOS and the Arctic: the path of least resistance, Mark Jarashow, Michael B. Runnels, Twait senson, 2006.
# http://cogdebate.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/case-of-the-week-5-unclos/
# http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_declarations.htm