18 Globalisation and Challenges for the Maritime Arctic
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18 Globalisation and Challenges for the Maritime Arctic Lawson W. Brigham NEW CHALLENGES EARLY IN THE CENTURY The end of the 20th century witnessed the dawn of extraordinary changes for the maritime Arctic. The region has long been understood to be a large store- house of untapped natural resources such as oil and gas, and mineral wealth. Exploration and development of these natural resources, driven by higher commodity prices and worldwide demand, have accelerated to a point where the Arctic is set to be a new and potential regional power in the global econ- omy. A key theme of this chapter is that economic connections of the Arctic to the globe are driving new challenges for Arctic marine transport and all marine activities in this once-remote region. Changes in Arctic sea ice, and the geopolitics of delimitation of the outer continental shelf, are also influencing future governance and uses of the Arctic Ocean. Marine access is changing in unprecedented ways as Arctic sea ice undergoes an historic transformation of thinning and extent reduc- tion. These physical changes have significant implications for longer seasons of navigation and new access to previously hard-to-reach Arctic coastal regions. Simultaneously, the process of setting the limits of the outer contin- ental shelf in the Arctic Ocean under Article 76 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention) poses key changes and geopolitical challenges for the High North. These changes, taken together with economic drivers, present unique challenges to the existing legal and regulatory structures which cannot meet today’s needs for enhanced Arctic marine safety and environmental protection. Such challenges will require historic high levels of close cooperation among the eight Arctic states and broad engagement with the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, many non-Arctic 306 Lawson W. Brigham stakeholders, and a host of actors within the global maritime industry. In response to this ‘new maritime Arctic’, the Arctic Council has taken pro- active steps to begin addressing many of the critical safety and environ- mental issues related to expanded marine operations in the Arctic.1 ECONOMIC CONNECTIONS TO THE GLOBE Development of Arctic natural resources is linking the maritime Arctic to the rest of the planet. The largest zinc mine in the world, ‘Red Dog’, is located in northwest Alaska in the Chukchi Sea. Several of the largest bulk carriers in the world sail into US Arctic waters in the summer (ice-free) months to load zinc ore from barges operating from the small port facility at Kivalina. The ore is carried to markets in East Asia and British Columbia. Across the Arctic Ocean in the Russian Arctic is the Siberian industrial complex at Norilsk, the largest producer of nickel and palladium in the world (and one of the largest copper and platinum producers).2 Since 1979, year-round navi- gation has been maintained between Murmansk and Dudinka, port city for Norilsk on the Yenisey River, so that nickel plates can be shipped west to domestic and global markets. A marine shuttle system of independently- operated (without icebreaker escort), icebreaking container carriers ensures the uninterrupted flow of nickel product to markets. In northern Baffin Is- land is one of the world’s largest deposits of high grade iron ore. The development of the ‘Mary River mine complex’, perhaps during the next decade, will require a marine transport system of icebreaking carriers that can link the mined ore to key European steel mills. Year-round marine oper- ations have become technically feasible, given the advanced capability of the icebreaking carriers that are being considered. Hydrocarbon developments in the Arctic, principally in Norway and Russia, have also stimulated increased Arctic marine traffic. LNG (liquefied natural gas) has been shipped to markets in Spain and the US East Coast from the onshore Hammerfest facility in the Norwegian Arctic (the gas is piped from the offshore seabed complex Snøhvit). This strategy reflects a shift from North Sea production to the Norwegian Arctic offshore for future exploration and development. At the Varandey offshore terminal in the Pe- chora Sea, oil from western Siberia (onshore) is shipped to Murmansk in advanced icebreaking tankers using a second shuttle service in the region. ——— 1 The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental forum established by the Ottawa Declaration of 19 September 1996 of the eight Arctic states (Canada, Denmark-Greenland-Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and the United States). 2 Norilsk Nickel website available at <www.nornik.ru/en/about>..