Editing Arctic (section)

== International cooperation and politics ==
{{Main|Arctic cooperation and politics}}
[[File:Polar bears near north pole.jpg|thumb|[[Polar bear]]s on the sea ice of the [[Arctic Ocean]], near the [[North Pole]]. [[USS Honolulu (SSN-718)|USS ''Honolulu'']] pictured.]]
The eight Arctic nations (Canada, Kingdom of Denmark [Greenland & The Faroe Islands], Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and US) are all members of the [[Arctic Council]], as are organizations representing six indigenous populations (The [[Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat#Aleut International Association|Aleut International Association]], [[Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat#Arctic Athabaskan Council|Arctic Athabaskan Council]], [[Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat#Gwich'in Council International|Gwich'in Council International]], [[Inuit Circumpolar Council]], [[Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North]], and [[Saami Council]]). The council operates on a consensus basis, mostly dealing with environmental treaties and not addressing boundary or resource disputes.

Though [[Arctic cooperation and politics|Arctic policy priorities differ]], every Arctic nation is concerned about sovereignty/defense, resource development, shipping routes, and environmental protection.<ref name="Buixade Farre 2014">{{cite journal |first1=Albert |last1=Buixadé Farré |first2=Scott R. |last2=Stephenson |first3=Linling |last3=Chen |first4=Michael |last4=Czub |first5=Ying |last5=Dai |first6=Denis |last6=Demchev |first7=Yaroslav |last7=Efimov |first8=Piotr |last8=Graczyk |first9=Henrik |last9=Grythe |first10=Kathrin |last10=Keil |first11=Niku |last11=Kivekäs |first12=Naresh |last12=Kumar |first13=Nengye |last13=Liu |first14=Igor |last14=Matelenok |first15=Mari |last15=Myksvoll |first16=Derek |last16=O'Leary |first17=Julia |last17=Olsen |first18=Sachin |last18=Pavithran, A. P. |first19=Edward |last19=Petersen |first20=Andreas |last20=Raspotnik |first21=Ivan |last21=Ryzhov |first22=Jan |last22=Solski |first23=Lingling |last23=Suo |first24=Caroline |last24=Troein |first25=Vilena |last25=Valeeva |first26=Jaap |last26=van Rijckevorsel |first27=Jonathan |last27=Wighting |date=16 October 2014 |title=Commercial Arctic shipping through the Northeast Passage: Routes, resources, governance, technology, and infrastructure |journal=[[Polar Geography]] |volume=37 |issue=4 |page=298 |doi=10.1080/1088937X.2014.965769 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2014PolGe..37..298B }}</ref> Much work remains on regulatory agreements regarding shipping, tourism, and [[Arctic resources race|resource development]] in Arctic waters.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Berkman |first1=Paul |title=Stability and Peace in the Arctic Ocean through Science Diplomacy |journal=Science & Diplomacy |date=23 June 2014 |volume=3 |issue=2 |url=http://www.sciencediplomacy.org/perspective/2014/stability-and-peace-in-arctic-ocean-through-science-diplomacy |access-date=23 June 2014 |archive-date=26 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426152211/https://www.sciencediplomacy.org/perspective/2014/stability-and-peace-in-arctic-ocean-through-science-diplomacy |url-status=live}}</ref> Arctic shipping is subject to some regulatory control through the [[International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters]], adopted by the [[International Maritime Organization]] on 1 January 2017 and applies to all ships in Arctic waters over 500 tonnes.<ref name="IMOPolar">{{cite web |url=https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/Pages/Polar-default.aspx |title=Shipping in polar waters |publisher=IMO |access-date=2 August 2021 |archive-date=2 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802101244/https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/Pages/Polar-default.aspx |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="IMOPolar1Year">{{cite web |url=https://www.maritime-executive.com/magazine/the-polar-code-one-year-on |title=The Polar Code, One Year On |publisher=The Maritime Executive |access-date=2 August 2021 |archive-date=2 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802101829/https://www.maritime-executive.com/magazine/the-polar-code-one-year-on |url-status=live}}</ref>

Research in the Arctic has long been a collaborative international effort, evidenced by the [[International Polar Year]]. The [[International Arctic Science Committee]], hundreds of scientists and specialists of the [[Arctic Council]], and the Barents Euro-Arctic Council are more examples of collaborative international Arctic research.<ref>{{cite journal |last=King |first=Lorenz |date=1992 |title=Polarregionen, vom Neuland zum wissenschaftlichen Brennpunkt |trans-title=Polar regions, from uncharted territory to scientific focus |url= |language=German |journal=Giessener Diskurse: Wissenschaft und Neues Weltbild |volume=6/7 |issue= |pages=231–256 |isbn=3-927835-25-0 |doi= |access-date=}}</ref>

=== Territorial claims ===
{{Main|Territorial claims in the Arctic}}
While there are several ongoing [[territorial claims in the Arctic]], no country owns the geographic [[North Pole]] or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it. The surrounding six Arctic states that border the Arctic Ocean—Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark (with Greenland), Iceland, Norway, Russia, and the United States—are limited to a {{Convert|200|NM|lk=in}} [[exclusive economic zone]] (EEZ) off their coasts. Two Arctic states (Finland and Sweden) do not have direct access to the Arctic Ocean.

Upon ratification of the [[United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]], a country has ten years to make claims to an [[extended continental shelf]] beyond its 200 nautical mile zone.<ref name="Buixade Farre 2014"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/annex2.htm |title=United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Annex 2, Article 4) |access-date=26 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070716080502/http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/annex2.htm |archive-date=16 July 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> Due to this, Norway (which ratified the convention in 1996),<ref name="ratif">{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/Depts/los/reference_files/chronological_lists_of_ratifications.htm |date=22 April 2009 |access-date=30 April 2009 |title=Chronological lists of ratifications of, accessions and successions to the Convention and the related Agreements |publisher=United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414043900/http://www.un.org/depts/los/reference_files/chronological_lists_of_ratifications.htm |archive-date=14 April 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> Russia (ratified in 1997),<ref name="ratif" /> Canada (ratified in 2003)<ref name="ratif" /> and the Kingdom of Denmark (ratified in 2004)<ref name="ratif" /> launched projects to establish claims that certain sectors of the Arctic seabed should belong to their territories.

On 2 August 2007, two Russian [[bathyscaphe]]s, [[Mir (submersible)|MIR-1 and MIR-2]], for the first time in history descended to the Arctic [[seabed]] beneath the North Pole and placed there a [[flag of Russia|Russian flag]] made of rust-proof [[titanium alloys|titanium alloy]]. The flag-placing, during [[Arktika 2007]], generated commentary on and concern for a race for control of the Arctic's vast hydrocarbon resources.<ref>Yenikeyeff, S. M. and Fenton Krysiek, Timothy (August 2007). [http://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Aug2007-TheBattleforthenextenergyfrontier-ShamilYenikeyeff-and-TimothyFentonKrysiek.pdf ''The Battle for the Next Energy Frontier: The Russian Polar Expedition and the Future of Arctic Hydrocarbons''.] [[Oxford Institute for Energy Studies]]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710021201/http://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Aug2007-TheBattleforthenextenergyfrontier-ShamilYenikeyeff-and-TimothyFentonKrysiek.pdf|date=10 July 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Map of the Arctic region showing the Northeast Passage, the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage, and bathymetry.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of the Arctic region showing the [[Northeast Passage]], the [[Northern Sea Route]] within it, and the [[Northwest Passage]].]]
Foreign ministers and other officials representing Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States met in [[Ilulissat|Ilulissat, Greenland]] on 28 May 2008 at the [[Arctic Ocean Conference]] and announced the [[Ilulissat Declaration]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Conference in Ilulissat, Greenland: Landmark political declaration on the future of the Arctic |url=http://www.um.dk/en/servicemenu/news/newsarchives2008/conferenceinilulissatgreenlandlandmarkpoliticaldeclarationonthefutureofthearctic.htm |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark]] |date=28 May 2008 |access-date=30 April 2009}}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.um.dk/NR/rdonlyres/BE00B850-D278-4489-A6BE-6AE230415546/0/ArcticOceanConference.pdf |title=The Ilulissat Declaration |date=28 May 2008 |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark |access-date=6 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626152700/http://www.um.dk/NR/rdonlyres/BE00B850-D278-4489-A6BE-6AE230415546/0/ArcticOceanConference.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> blocking any "new comprehensive international legal regime to govern the Arctic Ocean," and pledging "the orderly settlement of any possible overlapping claims."<ref name="Buixade Farre 2014"/><ref>{{cite news |first=Randy |last=Boswell |title=Conference could mark start of Arctic power struggle |url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=d0135cd8-c15a-48a3-9579-0df5f8e185c1 |publisher=canada.com |date=28 May 2008 |access-date=6 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304204151/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=d0135cd8-c15a-48a3-9579-0df5f8e185c1 |archive-date=4 March 2009}}</ref>

As of 2012, the Kingdom of Denmark is claiming the [[continental shelf]] based on the [[Lomonosov Ridge]] between Greenland and over the North Pole to the northern limit of the [[exclusive economic zone of Russia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/verden/1.8261208 |title=Dansker vil dokumentere territorialkrav i Arktis |publisher=[[NRK]] |language=no |date=28 July 2012 |access-date=15 June 2015 |archive-date=31 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831051058/http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/verden/1.8261208 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Russian Federation is also [[Continental shelf of Russia#2001 extension claim|claiming a large swath of seabed]] along the Lomonosov Ridge but, unlike Denmark, confined its claim to its side of the Arctic region. In August 2015, Russia made a supplementary submission for the expansion of the external borders of its continental shelf in the [[Arctic Ocean]], asserting that the eastern part of the Lomonosov Ridge and the [[Mendeleyev Ridge]] is an extension of the [[Eurasia]]n continent. In August 2016, the [[United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea|UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf]] began to consider Russia's submission.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.maritimeherald.com/2017/russia-claims-the-application-for-expansion-of-danish-borders-in-the-arctic-shelf/ |title=Russia claims the application for expansion of Danish borders in the Arctic shelf |date=2017-01-23 |access-date=22 January 2018 |archive-date=22 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122125538/http://www.maritimeherald.com/2017/russia-claims-the-application-for-expansion-of-danish-borders-in-the-arctic-shelf/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Canada claims the [[Northwest Passage]] as part of its [[Canadian Internal Waters|internal waters]] belonging to Canada, while the United States and most maritime nations<ref>{{cite web |author=The Edmonton Journal |url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=6d4815ac-4fdb-4cf3-a8a6-4225a8bd08df&k=73925 |url-status=dead |title=Northwest Passage gets political name change |publisher=Canada.com |date=9 April 2006 |access-date=31 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402114448/http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=6d4815ac-4fdb-4cf3-a8a6-4225a8bd08df&k=73925 |archive-date=2 April 2016}}</ref> regards it as an [[Territorial waters|international strait]], which means that foreign vessels have right of transit passage.<ref>{{cite news |title=The US is picking a fight with Canada over a thawing Arctic shipping route |url=https://qz.com/1653831/the-us-is-picking-a-fight-with-canada-over-an-arctic-shipping-route/ |work=Quartz |date=June 27, 2019 |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-date=14 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814025007/https://qz.com/1653831/the-us-is-picking-a-fight-with-canada-over-an-arctic-shipping-route/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Exploration ===
{{Main|Arctic exploration}}
{{See also|Petroleum exploration in the Arctic}}
Since 1937, the larger portion of the Asian-side Arctic region has been extensively explored by Soviet and Russian crewed [[drifting ice station]]s. Between 1937 and 1991, 88 international polar crews established and occupied scientific settlements on the [[drift ice]] and were carried thousands of kilometers by the ice flow.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.whoi.edu/beaufortgyre/history/history_drifting.html |title=North Pole drifting stations (1930s–1980s) |publisher=Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |access-date=30 April 2009 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720113545/http://www.whoi.edu/beaufortgyre/history/history_drifting.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Pollution ===
{{main|Pollution in the Arctic Ocean|Arctic haze}}
[[File:contamination pathways large.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|Long-range pollution pathways to the Arctic]]
The Arctic is comparatively clean, although there are certain ecologically difficult [[Pollution in the Arctic Ocean|localized pollution]] problems that present a serious threat to people's health living around these pollution sources. Due to the prevailing worldwide sea and air currents, the Arctic area is the fallout region for long-range transport [[pollutant]]s, and in some places, the concentrations exceed the levels of densely populated urban areas. An example of this is the phenomenon of [[Arctic haze]], which is commonly blamed on long-range pollutants. Another example is with the [[bioaccumulation]] of PCBs ([[polychlorinated biphenyl]]s) in Arctic wildlife and people.

=== Preservation ===
{{Main|Save the Arctic}}
There have been many proposals to preserve the Arctic over the years. Most recently a group of states{{clarify|date=February 2024}} at the [[United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development]], on 21 June 2012, proposed protecting the Arctic, similar to the [[Antarctic Treaty System]]. The initial focus of the campaign will be a UN resolution creating a global sanctuary around the pole, and a ban on oil drilling and unsustainable fishing in the Arctic.<ref>[http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/press/releases/Stars-launch-campaign-to-save-the-Arctic/ Stars launch campaign to save the Arctic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627092631/http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/press/releases/Stars-launch-campaign-to-save-the-Arctic/ |date=27 June 2012 }}. [[Greenpeace]] (21 June 2012).</ref>

The Arctic has climate change rates that are amongst the highest in the world. Due to the major impacts to the region from climate change the near climate future of the region will be extremely different under all scenarios of warming.<ref>IPCC. Cross-Chapter Paper 6: Polar Regions. ''IPCC WGII Sixth Assessment Report.'' 1 October 2021. https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg2/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGII_CrossChapterPaper6.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228143954/https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg2/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGII_CrossChapterPaper6.pdf |date=28 February 2022 }}.</ref>