Histoire Antar/FR/Introduction

A little Geostrategy

The Arctic Ocean covers an area in the region of 13 million sq.km and encompasses seven peripheral seas: Lincoln, Beaufort, Chukchi, East Siberian, Laptev, Kara and Barents. Sometimes added to the ocean are the dual inlets into the Atlantic basin formed by Baffin Bay, as well as the northern seas of Greenland and Norway. .

There is one striking difference with the region of Antarctic in that with the exception of the Svalbard archipelago, which is the subject of a special treaty authorising access to a number of nations (see below), each northern territory is attributed to one of the seven sovereign countries that border the Arctic waters (Canada, United States, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark - by way of Greenland - and Iceland - whose only Arctic possessions are the small islands of Grimsey and Kolbeinsey).
International regulations apply regarding trade, shipping, the environment and research: the concept of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) protects the countries surrounding the pole up to 370 kilometres from the coast, shipping is subject to certain rules in international straits, pollution is the subject of various controls and oceanographic expeditions are carried out in unrestricted freedom.
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There is one striking difference with the region of Antarctic in that with the exception of the Svalbard archipelago, which is the subject of a special treaty authorising access to a number of nations (see below), each northern territory is attributed to one of the seven sovereign countries that border the Arctic waters (Canada, United States, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark - by way of Greenland - and Iceland - whose only Arctic possessions are the small islands of Grimsey and Kolbeinsey).
International regulations apply regarding trade, shipping, the environment and research: the concept of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) protects the countries surrounding the pole up to 370 kilometres from the coast, shipping is subject to certain rules in international straits, pollution is the subject of various controls and oceanographic expeditions are carried out in unrestricted freedom.

However, this relative statutory and regulatory stability does not prevent certain problems from persisting. Here are five of them.

The ownership of the natural ocean resources continues to pose questions. Yet the matter is important because the mineral and living riches of Arctic land and waters harbour a potential for the waterside countries that is becoming increasingly more significant as technological advances make it possible to reduce the cost burden created by the harshness of the environment and by the problems associated with transporting away any materials extracted.

The case of the Svalbard archipelago has still not been totally resolved. Certainly, a treaty dating from 1920 gave it to Norway, which in return accepted to grant the right of access and exploration to the other signatory nations. But because this treaty covers nothing beyond the four miles of territorial waters, the submarine resources of the continental shelf are the subject of much greed.
Since 1907, the Canadians have claimed sovereignty over a part of the Arctic that they consider their own. Rejecting any carve-up based on foreign exploration, they want to impose the notion of sectors, which would slice the icy ocean into immense "pieces of tart" marked off by the frontiers of national territories and by straight lines connecting virtually all of the extremities of these frontiers at the North Pole.

Since then, Moscow has used the same sort of reasoning to claim sovereignty over the islands located inside the sector of ocean that extends its land borders in a direct line to the Pole (1926), then by using the Soviet media to extend this claim to include the Arctic waters (1928).
In 1977, the USSR once again stood behind Canada which had just instituted a 200-mile territorial fishing zone off its coasts, in a way made possible by international legislation.
In between times, in 1970, the Canadian Parliament laid down a "Canadian anti-pollution zone" (CAPZ), i.e. a control area designed to protect "its" Arctic waters from any pollution. In doing so, it gave itself the right to inspect any ships using the Northwest Passage less than 100 coastal miles to the north of the 60th parallel. In fact, though, the Canadians did not provide themselves with the resources to apply national legislation to their Arctic coastlines. Ships that do not request authorisation to pass through are not boarded on account of the lack of ice-breakers assigned for the task. The Americans, in particular, have never refrained from taking the Northwest Passage whenever they felt like it. Which has led to a high level of diplomatic tension ending in a tacit agreement: each time a ship flying the U.S. flag enters the zone claimed by Canada, Washington notifies Ottawa which then hurries to have the vessel in question followed by one of its own.

There remains the case of Norway. In 1977, Norway instituted a 200-mile fishing area off its coastline, although part (132,000 sq.km) of the Barents Sea is claimed both by the Norwegians and the Russians. Elsewhere, Oslo has seen Denmark and Iceland oppose the right to create an EEZ around Jan Mayen, on account of the fact that this island does not have a permanent population.