Source: The Telegraph
23 Sep 2010 - Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, called for calm in the battle for the Arctic's vast untapped energy resources, accusing unnamed forces of trying to stir up trouble.
Arguing that the region should be "a zone for peace," Mr Putin conceded that Russia's territorial claim for a vast swath of the Arctic was hotly contested and that different countries were vying to push their own geopolitical and economic interests.
However, he said the only way to deal with rival territorial claims was through negotiation in compliance with international law. He said doomsday scenarios of an armed struggle for the Arctic's resources were wide of the mark.
"A well-proven truth has long been apparent: it is hard to survive in the Arctic alone," he told a conference in Moscow. "Nature itself forces people, ethnic groups and even entire governments to help one another."
Mr Putin warned though that unnamed forces were trying to stir up trouble with "futuristic predictions about a looming battle for the Arctic", adding: "Most frightening scenarios of this kind are unfounded and have been calculated to get governments in the area to argue and clash with each other and then try to profit from it."
Analysts said Mr Putin was trying to defuse simmering tensions over who gets to exploit the Arctic's rich mineral wealth in future. Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway are all locked in a race to grab a slice of the northern wilderness after US researchers predicted that global warming might leave the area ice-free, and therefore more easily navigable and explored, as early as 2030. Experts say the region potentially contains one fifth of the world's oil and gas reserves and that the swath of Arctic territory claimed by Russia could be home to oil supplies double the size of Saudi Arabia's proven reserves.
For the complete article, please see The Telegraph.
In this interview, EcoPeace Directors Nada Majdalani (Palestine), Yana Abu-Taleb (Jordan) and Gidon Bromberg (Israel) explain why disengaging from a shared environment can aggravate the region’s security challenges.
At the conclusion of the 50th Pacific Islands Forum, Pacific leaders issued a Forum Communiqué and the ‘Kainaki II Declaration for Urgent Climate Change Action Now’ – the strongest collective statement the Forum has issued on climate change. Pacific leaders highlight the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, the SAMOA Pathway Review, and 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UNFCCC as “global turning points to ensure meaningful, measurable and effective climate change action”.
If ratified, the Mercosur-EU trade deal may reinforce the parties’ commitment to climate action. Yet, its potential relevance is weakened by a language that often stops short of concrete commitments, as well as political resistance.
Iraq is on the verge of an environmental breakdown, and climate change is not helping. The country's fragile environment and the increasing scarcity of natural resources — particularly water — are a result of poor environmental management, as well as several political and historical factors. However, as climate change impacts add to the existing pressures, the environmental collapse turns into a security issue.