Polar Regions: Importance of Arctic
The Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth.
As per the WWF-Arctic Programme, the Arctic region is warming up twice as fast as the global average. The ice cap has been shrinking fast since 1980 and the volume of Arctic sea ice has declined by as much as 75%. Since 1992, WWF’s (World Wide Fund for Nature) Arctic Programme has been working with its partners across the Arctic to combat threats to the Arctic and to preserve its rich biodiversity in a sustainable way.
Arctic, the polar region
The Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska (United States), Canada, Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover.
Ecological impact of warming on Arctic:
- The loss of ice and the warming waters will affect sea levels, salinity levels, and current and precipitation patterns.
- The Tundra is returning to swamp, the permafrost is thawing, sudden storms are ravaging coastlines and wildfires are devastating interior Canada and Russia.
- The Arctic is also home to about 40 different indigenous groups, whose culture, economy and way of life is in danger of being swept away.
Commercial importance of Arctic:
The opening of the Arctic presents huge commercial and economic opportunities, particularly in shipping, energy, fisheries and mineral resources.
Commercial navigation: The Northern Sea Route (NSR) which would connect the North Atlantic to the North Pacific through a short polar arc is the most tempting.
Oil and natural gas deposits: Estimated to be 22% of the world’s unexplored resources, mostly in the Arctic ocean, will be open to access along with mineral deposits including 25% of the global reserves of rare earths, buried in Greenland.
Conflict over Arctic:
Russia, Canada, Norway and Denmark have put in overlapping claims for extended continental shelves, and the right to sea-bed resources.
Russia is the dominant power, with the longest Arctic coastline, half the Arctic population, and a full-fledged strategic policy.
Russia has also activated its northern military bases, refurbished its nuclear armed submarine fleet and demonstrated its capabilities, including through an exercise with China in the eastern Arctic.
India’s interests in Arctic:
- Environmental Interest: India’s extensive coastline makes it vulnerable to the impact of Arctic warming on ocean currents, weather patterns, fisheries and most importantly, the monsoon.
- Scientific Interest: Scientific research in Arctic developments, in which India has a good record, will contribute to its understanding of climatic changes in the Third Pole, the Himalayas.
- Since 2013, India has had observer status in the Arctic Council, which is the predominant inter-governmental forum for cooperation on the environmental and development aspects of the Arctic.
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