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AW: Polare Umwelten
In Neuland, Neumeer und Altrecht (Beitrag #2), in Arktische Souveränität (Beitrag #11) und in Nordwestpassage (Beitrag #14) haben wir klimawandelinduzierte Machtansprüche auf den arktischen Raum diskutiert. Grösster Player ist derzeit Russland. Den Kontinentalschelf als Fortsetzung des Festlands interpretierend, versucht Russland, die Jurisdiktion über seine 200-Seemeilen-Zone bis zum Nordpol auszudehnen.
Alex Rodriguez, Oil race at top of the world: As Russia pursues claim to huge Arctic reserves, U.S. is sidelined [Chicago Tribune, June 10, 2007]
Russland beansprucht den Nordpol
In Neuland, Neumeer und Altrecht (Beitrag #2), in Arktische Souveränität (Beitrag #11) und in Nordwestpassage (Beitrag #14) haben wir klimawandelinduzierte Machtansprüche auf den arktischen Raum diskutiert. Grösster Player ist derzeit Russland. Den Kontinentalschelf als Fortsetzung des Festlands interpretierend, versucht Russland, die Jurisdiktion über seine 200-Seemeilen-Zone bis zum Nordpol auszudehnen.
A new Klondike may be waiting at the top of the world, where geologists believe a quarter of the globe's undiscovered oil and natural gas lies trapped within the rock strata underneath the ice-encased Arctic Ocean.
It's a trove of energy wealth that sits unowned and unexplored, a bonanza being readied for a rush of claims thanks to climate change. Global warming is steadily wearing away the polar cap, scientists say, making the advent of Arctic energy exploration increasingly likely.
It's a trove of energy wealth that sits unowned and unexplored, a bonanza being readied for a rush of claims thanks to climate change. Global warming is steadily wearing away the polar cap, scientists say, making the advent of Arctic energy exploration increasingly likely.
If geologists at the Russian Research Institute for Ocean Geology and Mineral Resources are right, the Kremlin could add as many as 10 billion tons of Arctic oil and natural gas to reserves that already make Russia one of the world's most formidable energy powerhouses.
The Kremlin's Arctic claim involves a 463,222-square-mile triangle of ocean that stretches from the North Pole to waters above east Siberia and Russia's Chukotka Peninsula. That section of the Arctic lies beyond Russia's economic jurisdiction, which is defined by the Law of the Sea Treaty as all waters within 200 miles of a country's coastline.
But if Russia can geologically prove that its continental shelf extends beyond the 200-mile limit, it can claim economic rights over that extension.
The Kremlin's Arctic claim involves a 463,222-square-mile triangle of ocean that stretches from the North Pole to waters above east Siberia and Russia's Chukotka Peninsula. That section of the Arctic lies beyond Russia's economic jurisdiction, which is defined by the Law of the Sea Treaty as all waters within 200 miles of a country's coastline.
But if Russia can geologically prove that its continental shelf extends beyond the 200-mile limit, it can claim economic rights over that extension.
An international commission that reviews such applications rejected Russia's initial claim, but Opekunov and a team of 70 scientists at the Russian institute are crafting a second bid. Thirty of those scientists are currently sailing on an icebreaker near the Arctic's Lomonosov Ridge, conducting seismic tests to help determine the geology of the ocean floor, Opekunov said.
Of the five countries that surround the Arctic -- Russia, Norway, Denmark (via Greenland), Canada and the U.S., only the U.S. has yet to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty. Canada and Denmark are working together on a counter-claim arguing that the Arctic's Lomonosov Ridge belongs not to the Siberian continental shelf but to the Canadian-Greenland shelf.
Of the five countries that surround the Arctic -- Russia, Norway, Denmark (via Greenland), Canada and the U.S., only the U.S. has yet to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty. Canada and Denmark are working together on a counter-claim arguing that the Arctic's Lomonosov Ridge belongs not to the Siberian continental shelf but to the Canadian-Greenland shelf.
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