THE ARCTIC

The dazzling, delicate Top of the World is ground zero for climate change. Shielding it from harm is a defining challenge of our time. As ice cover declines and a new ocean emerges, we must unite against prospective plunderers of Arctic oil, gas and fish. Oil companies profiting from the melting ice is too cruel an irony, and too great a risk for the future of our planet. It is our duty to keep the Arctic safe: there must be no drilling anywhere in the Arctic, and no industrial commercial fishing at its centre.

TALKING POINTS

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• We are witnessing the birth of a new Ocean at the top of the world.
• The Ocean occupies nearly two-thirds of Arctic territory.
• Arctic sea ice – sometimes called the planet’s air conditioner – plays an important role in regulating the global climate. The bright white surface of the sea ice reflects roughly 80 percent of the sunlight that strikes it back into space, which keeps the region cool. By comparison, the dark Ocean surface absorbs 90 percent of the sunlight.
• The sea ice provides important habitat for seals, walruses and polar bears on top of the ice, and for plankton production and plankton-eating fish that live beneath the ice.
• The Arctic is a critical habitat for endangered and threatened species which are already stressed from the effects of climate change, such as polar bears, whales, seals, and migratory birds.
• Despite its ecological importance and vulnerability, the Arctic marine environment remains one of the least protected and vulnerable places on Earth.
• The melting Arctic ice has made the region’s oil, gas and minerals more accessible, opened up shipping routes and expanded commercial fishing. It has triggered global interest – and competitiveness – in the region from Arctic nations and those far outside its boundaries that see opportunity knocking. All activities could negatively impact on this fragile environment.
• Unlike Antarctica, the Arctic does not have a single overarching treaty. The legal instruments that currently govern the region are not coherent and do not take into account the cumulative impact of the different activities in the region.
• The Arctic Council, which is the key body responsible for the Arctic, is not a legal entity, and only makes non-binding, voluntary recommendations, and lacks enforcement mechanisms. For it to remain relevant in the future it will need to move from being a policy-shaping forum to having a much greater role in policy making.
• Finland is currently chairing the Arctic Council (2017-2019).  The next country to assume chairmanship will be Iceland (2019-2021).

THREATS:

Climate Change

• The Arctic is ground zero of climate change, experiencing the most effects of any other area in the world.
• Arctic sea ice cover is declining by about 4% per decade, and predictions have said that the Arctic waters could have completely ice- free Summers by 2050, and possibly even sooner.

• In 2018, Arctic sea ice summer minimum was the 6^th lowest on record.

• Climate change has already had an impact on Arctic terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.
• Arctic waters are becoming increasingly acidic, with a recent US study showing that within the next 15-20 years marine species with hard shells- such as lobster and crab, will find it increasingly difficult to build their shells.
• Many of the adaptations that Arctic plant and animal species have acquired to survive the harsh conditions also limit their ability to respond to warmer climates and other environmental changes.
• Some species, such as grizzly bears, have started moving northward and showing up in areas usually occupied by polar bears and Arctic foxes. But other species, like whales, seals or polar bears, may not adapt quickly enough to the changing conditions.
• Wetlands make up about 11% of the terrestrial surface of the Arctic. They are the summer homes of millions of migratory birds, including the common eider that breeds in the Arctic and winters in more temperate zones. But wetlands – and other freshwater ecosystems – are vulnerable to warmer temperatures, changes in precipitation and thawing permafrost. Ponds and lakes can disappear if the permafrost beneath them thaws.

Oil and Gas Drilling

• The US Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic holds 13% of the world’s undiscovered reserves of oil, or about 90 billion barrels, of which 84% lie offshore. Natural gas reserves are estimated at 47 trillion cubic metres of gas and 44 billion barrels of liquefied petroleum gas, or 30% of undiscovered gas reserves and 20% of undiscovered LPG.
• Oil companies are eyeing up the Arctic despite its remoteness, investment risk and having some of the most challenging drilling conditions in the world.
• In the Arctic, clean-up from an oil spill is immensely difficult because of the physical conditions and techniques available to contain and clean-up an oil spill are inadequate, meaning that the consequences of a spill for Arctic life are catastrophic. There are two reasons not to drill in the Arctic: we just are not ready to drill there; and, we have a moral imperative not to continue the cycle of dependency that the melting Arctic epitomizes.
• It is one of the great ironies of our time that the very companies that have profited from the carbon economy, the collateral damage of which includes the significant melting now occurring in the Arctic, are now looking to the Arctic as the next great frontier for oil and gas drilling.
• Despite an announcement at the end of 2016 by former US President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau to ban new offshore oil and gas leases in their countries’ Arctic waters, in 2018 US President Trump overturned this commitment and re-opened US Arctic waters to oil drilling, posing a huge threat to this fragile environment.

Fisheries

• The receding sea ice is opening up new fishing opportunities in the Arctic, and increasingly warmer waters are encouraging commercial fish stocks, such as cod, and industrial-scale fishing vessels to move northwards.
• Fisheries are moving further north on the Atlantic side of the Arctic, as commercial fishing is absent from the Pacific following the US government’s precautionary move in 2008 to stop all commercial fishing north of the Bering Strait until more is known about the effects of the changing climate on the marine area.
• The region is very vulnerable to the impacts of overfishing, and may be very slow to recover, having disastrous impacts on wildlife such as polar bears and seals.
• In 2018, officials from the 5 Arctic nations (Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US) together with distant water fishing nations Japan, China, South Korea and the EU met in Greenland to sign the landmark Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean.
• This signing formalised the commitment made in December 2017, when Arctic countries and distant water fishing nations agreed to keep 2.8 million km2 of the high seas area in the Central Arctic Ocean off limits to commercial fishing for at least 16 years, to protect Arctic marine ecosystems that have opened up due to melting ice.
• This moratorium to protect marine life will automatically be renewed in 2033, and every 5 years after that, unless a country objects or fisheries management structures have been put in place.
• This precautionary time-out will enable more scientific research in the region to better understand the impacts of climate change on its fish stocks and Arctic marine life.

Shipping

• The melting ice is not only opening up the area to fishing vessels but also to increased shipping activity. New shipping routes are being created such as the Northwest and Northeast Passages from Europe to Asia and Asia to North America.
• More shipping companies are eyeing up Arctic shipping routes, as it will cut transit distance between Asian and European ports by 30-40%, saving companies huge amounts on fuel and journey time, the cost of the tolls for going through the Suez or Panama Canal and avoiding high risk piracy areas.
• The rates that sea ice is retreating means that soon it will be possible for commercial shipping vessels to use the Northern Sea route as a viable alternative to the Suez Canal all year round.
• In August 2018, because of melting ice, the 1st ever container ship made it through the previously inaccessible Northern Sea Route along the coast of Northern Russia.
• The Arctic is a harsh environment to operate in, with hazards from floating ice, fog and violent storms. In combination with poor mapping, insufficient resources for search and rescue capacity and the difficulty of clearing up oil spills in the region. Each of these means that the environmental risks of an oil spill from a tanker or an incident at sea are significantly increased.
• Around 75% of marine fuel currently carried in the Arctic is heavy fuel oil (HFO)) and more than half is carried by vessels flagged to non-Arctic states – countries that have little if any connection to the Arctic. Heavy fuel oil is one of the world’s dirtiest fuels, is not only virtually impossible to clean up in the event of a spill, as it is very slow to break down, especially in cold water, but it also produces higher levels of air and climate pollutants than other marine fuels.
• HFO has been banned for use and carriage in the Antarctic because of the vulnerability of this polar region, but not yet in the Arctic, although discussions are underway within the International Maritime Organization to introduce a ban.
• Increased shipping also raises the risk of ship strikes for marine mammals, as well as noise pollution and invasive species entering the waters. This puts the Arctic Ocean, its wildlife, and the people who depend on them at risk.

• The IMO Polar Code that came into force on the 1^st January 2017 includes new measures for ships operating in polar areas. It is an important step to promote safe shipping operations and protection of the polar environment, but will need to be strengthened further to incorporate issues such as a heavy fuel oil ban, ballast water and air emissions.

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN?

• Protecting the Arctic is one of the most urgent issues of our time, as we are literally seeing a new Ocean open up before us.
• We have so much more to gain from protecting this amazing fragile environment for future generations than exploiting it for the benefit of a handful of corporations.
• The Arctic can only be protected if we cut carbon emissions as far and as fast as possible, and at the same time, fully protect large marine areas to help Arctic marine ecosystems build resilience to the changes happening around them.
• No oil and gas drilling should be allowed in the Arctic as is too dangerous, too expensive, and has no place in a sustainable future for the region.
• Heavy fuel oil should be banned in the Arctic by the International Maritime Organization.
• Arctic nations need to take more action to establish an effective network of marine reserves in the region that strongly protects at least 30 per cent of Arctic waters.