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| Great White North |
| Ottawa plans huge claim to resource-rich Arctic seabed |
| 2008-05-27 |
| As five countries meet to sort out jurisdiction to the continental shelf, Canada eyeing area the size of three Prairie provinces SHAWN MCCARTHY OTTAWA — Canada is preparing to claim an area of the Arctic Ocean seabed equivalent in size to the Prairie provinces as part of Ottawa's aggressive effort to defend Canadian interests in the North, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said yesterday. Mr. Lunn is scheduled to attend an Arctic Council meeting today in Greenland with four other countries that have significant - and in some cases, competing - claims to territorial jurisdiction beyond the traditional 200-nautical-mile limit. "We will be reaffirming our commitment about defending and protecting our sovereignty in the Arctic," Mr. Lunn said in an interview yesterday. "It's a priority for our government. The Prime Minister has said: 'Use it or lose it.' And we're not going to lose it." Denmark is host of the Greenland meeting, which will also have representatives from Russia, Norway and the United States. All five countries are preparing claims to the subsea continental shelf under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, although the Americans have yet to ratify the treaty. The participants will discuss how to proceed with economic and social development in the North, and how to give northerners more control, Mr. Lunn said. In doing so, they are attempting to prevent an unbridled resource rush in which countries stake competing claims and ignore social and environmental problems in their haste to exploit what some believe is the planet's last great, untapped source of energy and mineral resources. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that as much as 25 per cent of the world's remaining oil and gas reserves lies under the Arctic Ocean, and access to those high Arctic waters is improving as a result of melting sea-ice. Russia sparked a furor last summer when a submarine planted a flag on a contested area of the seabed, sparking fears of a 19th-century-style competition for territory among great powers. The United States has sent icebreakers into waters Canada believes should fall under its control. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pledged to beef up Canada's military presence in the Arctic. He also recently vetoed MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.'s planned sale of its space robotics and satellite technology business to a U.S. company on the grounds that Canada has a strategic interest in maintaining domestic ownership over the firm's Radarsat 2 satellite, which provides surveillance of the Far North. Mr. Lunn said yesterday that Canadian scientists are amassing evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, which extends under the Arctic Ocean, originates in the North American continent. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea was fashioned to prevent territorial claims based on raw force, and has a clear process for establishing jurisdiction. Under the treaty, countries have jurisdiction for 111 kilometres beyond the base of a continental shelf, but that claim can be extended for under-sea ridges extending from the shelf. Ottawa will spend $40-million over the next several years for scientists from the Geological Survey of Canada to map the Arctic Ocean and provide conclusive evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge is, in fact, part of the North American continental shelf. If the UN validates that claim, Canada can assert sovereignty over the seabed all along the ridge, although experts expect Canada will claim the area west of the ridge and Denmark will assert sovereignty over the area east of the ridge and closer to Greenland. Russia says it has conclusive evidence the Lomonosov Ridge extends from the Eurasian continent. Mr. Lunn said that, in total, Canada's claim would be equivalent in size to the three Prairie provinces - or about 1.8 million square kilometres. He said the UN body should easily validate Canada's claim, which will be submitted in 2013. He said Canada needs to extend sovereignty over the region to ensure that any resource development is socially and environmentally responsible. "We're a long way from resources development, but we need to make sure that no project proceeds unless the proper protections are in place," he said. New Democratic Party MP Dennis Bevington, who represents the Western Arctic and is accompanying Mr. Lunn to the meeting, said he fully supports Canada's efforts to establish sovereignty over the seabed, but questioned the government's commitment to environmental protection. Mr. Bevington said the Conservative government is pursuing oil and gas development in the Western Arctic's Beaufort Sea area without proper environmental controls. Exxon Mobil Corp. has embarked on a five-year drilling program in the Beaufort Sea, and the federal government has called for bids for exploration rights over five more parcels in the area. Rob Huebert, a University of Calgary expert on Arctic sovereignty, said this week's meeting could undermine a broader process for establishing proper governance in the Far North because it excludes native groups and two countries, Sweden and Finland, that have interests but no seabed claims in the Arctic. "There has been a dearth of any international, high-level discussions with regard to the Arctic per se," Prof. Huebert said. He fears the five national governments attending the meeting could form a "gentlemen's club" and agree on how to proceed with economic and social development without the formal inclusion of native people . The arctic heats up The five Arctic nations are gathered in Greenland to discuss their claims to the continental shelf, an area thought to contain as much as 25 per cent of the world's remaining oil and gas reserves. -Coastal nations automatically have sole exploitation rights over natural resources within 200 nautical miles from their shores. Lomonosov Ridge -Canadian scientists are amassing evidence that the disputed Lomonosov Ridge extends under the Arctic Ocean from the North America continent, giving Canada the grounds to assert sovereignty over the seabed all along the ridge. -The Canadian claim, which will be submitted in 2013, would be equivalent in size to the three Prairie provinces - or about 1.8-million square kilometres. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #2 IIRC, RIAN? or RUSSIA TODAY? > THE FORMAL DIVISION OF THE ARCTIC BEGINS??? RUSSIA is also reportedly sending up to eight ICE BREAKERS [read - ARMED, as per COLD WAR SOVIET NAVY?]] to support its claims. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-05-27 18:59 |
| #1 "Oh yeah? You and what army?" |
| Posted by: Vlad P. 2008-05-27 08:35 |