Discuss the Growing Nuclear Militarism in the Arctic Ocean. Student Officer
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Forum: Nuclear Security Summit Issue: Discuss the growing nuclear militarism in the Arctic Ocean. Student Officer: Ananya Iyer Position: President Chair ____________________________________________________________________________ Introduction The Arctic is the northernmost area on the earth, delimited by the Arctic Circle and including the ice-covered Arctic Ocean with its surrounding lands and seas. With the reduction of the Arctic sea ice due to global warming and other factors, human activities have significantly increased, heightening interest in the region and its withheld countries. One of these human activities is nuclear militarism as neighbouring countries such as Iceland, Canada, the Russian Federation and more are now at the forefront of discussions regarding the controversial issue. “Nuclear Militarism is the belief that nations should develop, maintain and use a strong nuclear military to expand its interests and such nations can be classified by their large defensive force with a disportionate share of the income, with society subordinates stood as support.” (Amadeo,2019) With the indirect colonization of this region by its neighbouring countries, the Arctic opened up to further possibilities such as hydropower, wind, geothermal, tidal and solar energy. Starting from 1955, to 1990, the arctic island Novaya Zemlya was home to one of the largest military nuclear training facilities where the Soviet Union detonated a total of 120 nuclear devices. It has been emerging as a potential conflict zone, and though it gained importance in World War 2 through assisting the Soviet Union as a supply line, it was only during the Cold War that it gained its significance. Due to its economic and energetic aspects, the Soviet Union and others such as the United States have attempted strengthening their position in this region through the deployment of missile-armed nuclear submarines and the anti submarine patrol aircraft during the Cold War, posing as the biggest troubles. The past of this issue is unclear as numerous incidents have encouraged the outcome of militarism, hence it cannot be decided when a trigger occurred to kickstart militarism in the Arctic Ocean. In addition to the Soviet Union, the Arctic Five Nations (United States, Rusia, Canada, Norway and Denmark) have similar goals to achieve in the Arctic Ocean as different governments claim territorial rights to the region, specifically the Lomonosov Ridge due to its numerous benefits. The Arctic region is prone to conflict as it is believed to possess more than $22 trillion worth of natural resources under the ice, including 90 billion barrels of oil and 47 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Since this northern tip is the intersection point of Eurasia, North America and Asian Pacific regions, it can be said that a lot rides on which nation gets full territorial claims. Economically, the thawing by nations by opening a maritime transit passageway, the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the Northwest Passage (NP) due to the melting ice, interesting the Russian and Canadian governments, playing their own benefits, though not currently used due to the risks of ice melting, however, will be every navigator’s dream. The Arctic Ocean’s militarism also harms societies, environments and more as with the implementation of nuclear warheads, the melting of ice is encouraged and a once peaceful region is now the hub for disaster. Definitions of Key Terms The Arctic Circle It is one of the Earth's five major latitude circles, marking maps. This is the latitude parallel which runs 66.56083 degrees north of the Equator (in 2000) and everything north of this line is known as the Arctic. It is home to a diverse variety of wildlife including polar bears, wolverines, resineers and mooses. Novaya Zemlya It is an archipelago (group of islands) in northwestern Russia, lying in the Arctic Ocean and separating the Barents and Kara seas; It consists of 2 large islands, Severny and Yuzhny in addition to many smaller islands. The Cold War It was a long period of conflict between Western World governments and Eastern European Communist countries. The United States led the west, and the Soviet Union dominated Eastern Europe, claiming these nations as superpowers. Although they never declared war on each other, they battled through proxy wars such as the nuclear arms race and the space race. Though the Soviet Union was an important member of the Allied Powers, the Soviet Union and the rest of the Allies had considerable mistrust, ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Arctic Five Nations It is a grouping of the five littoral Arctic states (Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States of America) that address Arctic affairs. However, this association does not have any independent power or existence other than the States that make it up. Though their relations are usually bilateral and multilateral cooperation through diplomatic channels, they mostly meet only to discuss Arctic issues . Territorial Rights Territorial Rights held by States can be divided into three main elements: the right to sovereignty, the right to the capital of the region and the right to control frontiers. It is a protected and exclusive territory claimed by a particular nation in this context. The Northern Sea Route (NSR) It is a shipping route officially described by Russian legislation as lying east of Novaya Zemlya and running directly along the Russian Arctic coast from the Kara Sea, through Siberia, to the Bering Strait. It is the most trafficked sea route in the Arctic and the Russian territorial waters. The Northwest Passage (NP) It is a sea path that links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the archipelago of Canada's arctic. It has been nearly impassable in the past, because it was covered by dense sea ice all year round. However, the development in climate change is allowing commercial traffic to pass through the Arctic Ocean. Nuclear Warheads An explosive device whose destructive potential is generated from the release of energy that involves the atomic nuclei separating or joining. Key Issues Climate Change Over the course of many years, the iced Arctic has served as a cold region, however, with the development of increasing air and water temperatures, the Arctic is slowly becoming endangered. The temperature increase resulted in the melting of icecaps and ice on rivers, potentially causing major disastrous implications. With the Greenland ice sheet melted, there have been malfunctions and inconsistencies in the patterns of weather as climate change causes regions such as the Arctic to experience hotter weather than usual. The Arctic’s susceptibility to warming was discovered in the 19th century, setting a chain of initial warnings that have come to fruition. Snow and ice have an albedo (a measure of how while or reflective a surface is) as high as 80% so 80% of the sun’s energy hit on the surface is reflected back into space. However, the ocean is a darker colour, hence its albedo is much lower at 10%, allowing more of the energy to be absorbed. As the Earth gets warmer, ice melts into water, causing more melting and more dark water, proving the albedo feedback and putting life forms in a constant loop. Additionally, with the melting of ice, the caps turn into water which may increase the sea levels in the arctic region, becoming prone to a natural disaster such as floods or more. With the implementation of nuclear militarism, the region will melt faster due to the energy particles, speeding the process of disaster. Climate change also has implications on the flora and fauna of the habitat as the increasing temperatures are almost directly proportional to their survival. Economic Impacts The melting of the Arctic ocean leaves areas for nations to build and conduct nuclear tests , resulting in many eyeing its strategic importance and economic profitability. A major source of income from this region would be the untapped oil and gas resources with shorter international commercial routes. With this vast space untouched for many years, countries such as Russia and the United States aim to prosper in their nuclear arms race by using the natural resources and placing a test facility. With reduced commercial routes, trade also becomes easier as the transport is much shorter and can be done quicker. In retrospect, the NSR offers a significant reduction in the travelling distance between Europe and the west of North America, while the NP is mainly interrupted by Canada and the United States as it doesn't have a clear clarification on its status as international or internal waters. Though currently, these passages are not heavily utilized due to the risks of ice melting, it is predicted that it will be used in the future as a dream of navigators. In terms of the proliferation of production of nuclear weapons, it would cost the nations to develop facilities and missile storage units in the Arctic ocean as it would be built from scratch. Additionally, the materials required to produce them such as Uranium-235 would require shipment since it is not produced in the region. However, with the discovery of new materials, countries could financially benefit as they would manufacture nuclear weapons with said apparatus, developing the world of technology as well. Environmental Impacts The usage of nuclear weapons in the Arctic ocean is prone to having drastic negative impacts on various aspects of the ecosystem. With such a wide array of wildlife in the region, a large majority of the animals are endangered or exotic, hence the nuclear chemicals will prove to be dangerous. Animals such as the Arctic fox to the polar bar are very resilient as they live on the coldest of plains, however, chemicals produced by nuclear facilities or warheads shipped to the region will cause further endangerment or extinction.