The Arctic This Week Take Five: Week of May 14, 2018

Plans for Arctic drilling moving forward, despite risk

This past week the United States and Norway have both indicated continued interest in drilling for oil in Arctic regions. US president Donald Trump is reviewing an application from Hilcorp Alaska, LLC to allow drilling in the Arctic national wildlife refuge, which could possibly contain larger reservoirs of oil (Center for Biological Diversity). Meanwhile, Norway has expanded its drilling to over 100 new sites in the Barents and Norwegian seas (EOTA).

Take 1: Drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean has been a tempting idea for decades, but at this point experts advise that continuing to move forward with these plans will lead to public outrage and too much unnecessary risk (The Guardian). Former head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat Christiana Figueres pointed out that the drilling is high risk as global emissions continue to threaten the arctic ecosystem and that previous explorations have had difficulty finding significant resources. The harsh weather conditions add to the difficulty (Reuters).

UN to Canada: Do more to help Indigenous women

The members of the United Nations Human Rights Council urged Canada to improve its treatment of Indigenous people during the UN’s third Universal Periodic Review of human rights last week. The review called for Canada to address its most “urgent human rights issues” and to focus on issues affecting Indigenous women, like their over-representation in the criminal system and the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (CBC).

Take 2: Canada’s representative during the review, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, said she heard the message “loudly and clearly,” which is unsurprising given its similarity to recommendations given during the previous UN review in 2013 (CBC). Criticism of Canada’s Indigenous relations also came from within the country earlier this month. Chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations called on the global community to investigate discrimination against Indigenous peoples by the Canadian justice system and asked that Canada’s Criminal Code be reformed to guarantee equitable treatment for Indigenous peoples in Canada (The Globe and Mail).

Norway’s EU policy emphasizes Arctic importance

Last week, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced its 2018-2021 EU policy, which included for the first time a stance on Arctic Issues. The policy aims to stress the importance of communities living in the Arctic, as well as establish a bond between the EU and the Arctic Council. Additionally, the policy hopes to increase research, business, and development in the arctic region (HNN).

Take 3: Norway’s new EU strategy emphasizes its support for the EU to become a permanent observer to the Arctic Council, the intergovernmental forum that promotes cooperation between Arctic states and communities. The final decision on the EU’s role as an observer has been deferred several times because of disagreement between Arctic Council nations. Specifically, Russia and Canada oppose its joining because of poor relations and trade disputes, respectively (BBC).

Greenland contemplates dropping Danish for English

Kim Kielsen, party leader of the Siumut (social democrat) party of Greenland and prime minister of Greenland, has voiced his interest in replacing Danish with English in Greenland’s schools. He believes English would offer “more opportunities” and be easier for students to learn (CPH Post). The move would also further separate Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark (HNN).

Take 4: Teachers are concerned that a lack of English teaching materials would provide a significant challenge to the plan and worry that Greenlandic students wishing to continue their studies at the post-secondary level do so in Denmark, where Danish is required for many programs (HNN). However, speaking English gives students access to global studies. There are also concerns over the tendency of English to overtake smaller languages, like Greenlandic, but this is less of a concern in Greenland where 60 percent of citizens are monolingual (CPH Post).

President Trump may soon be head of state and iceberg

In a bid to demonstrate the significance of climate change, a Finnish environmental group called Melting Ice, is trying to raise €400,000 to carve a 35-meter-tall likeness of US President Trump on an iceberg. To be called Mount Trumpmore, after the American monument Mount Rushmore, the statue will melt away as the Arctic continues to warm due to climate change, which President Trump has called a ploy by the “Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive” (Sputnik, Twitter).

Take 5: Despite President Trump’s well documented denial of climate change, disappearing sea ice is still a real threat to global climate patterns and changing life for people in the north and south (The Verge). The amount of old ice and multi-year ice in the Arctic is quickly diminishing. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), over the past 30 years the total percentage of multi-year ice reduced from 61 percent to 34 percent. NOAA also reported that less than 2 percent of the remaining ice is over five years old. Traditionally, the Beaufort Gyre north of Alaska maintained good conditions for new ice formation, however since the start of the 21st century, warm conditions have diminished ice formation in this region. Additionally, new ice is melting faster than ever in the region (Washington Examiner, Scientific American).