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Here Be Arctic Dragons
One year ago Russia planted a flag of ownership on the seabed underneath the North Pole.
Now, with the ice melting before our eyes, the 21st century's first gold rush is on.
Want to know just who's after the Arctic's virgin oil, gas, and minerals? A new map shows the disputed territories that states might lay claim to in the future...
The Arctic Map was put together by researchers at Durham University and shows agreed boundaries, known claims, and potential areas states might claim.
It reflects disagreements over maritime jurisdiction in the Arctic. And the potential for a lot more. Particularly over the continental shelf more than 200 nautical miles from coastlines.
So far the Arctic states have followed the rules for establishing seabed jurisdiction set out in the 1982 Law of the Sea. No one expects such gentlemanly behavior to survive the strike of the first gold nugget.
A pdf of the map explains what all the pretty colors mean.
Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the Kiriyama Prize and the John Burroughs Medal Award.
Comments
When you consider that oil and gas deposits will probably straddle any boundaries - disputed or otherwise - there's going to be a real rush to get in there 1st.
No doubt in the rush corners will be cut and the environmental impact will be even more tragic than we currently envisage it.
Oil is humanity's narcotic - if we don't kick our bad habit very soon; it will be the death of us...
An expert from the National Autonomous University of Mexico predicted that in about ten years the Earth will enter a "little ice age" which will last from 60 to 80 years and may be caused by the decrease in solar activity.
Víctor Manuel Velasco Herrera, investigador del Instituto de Geofísica de la UNAM, sostuvo lo anterior durante una conferencia que impartó en el Centro de Ciencias Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico. Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of the UNAM, as argued earlier during a conference that teaches at the Centre for Applied Sciences and Technological Development.
Remember, not by fire, but by ice.
Posted by: The IceMan on 08/19/08 at 10:58 AM Respond
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Posted by: Fair Trade on 08/07/08 at 5:51 AM Respond