MPs have launched a new inquiry into what the UK Government can do to help protect the Arctic as the retreating ice opens the region up to oil drilling, new shipping routes and new fishing grounds.
Its inquiry will examine what more needs to be done – through dialogue, treaties, regulations and incentives – to ensure that any development of the region is sustainable and takes full account of its impacts on climate change and the environment.
Joan Walley MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said: “Rising global temperatures – caused by the burning of fossil fuels – ironically look set to clear the way for a new oil and gas gold rush in the Arctic.”
“We will be looking at what the UK Government can do to ensure that the Arctic is protected and whether it is even possible to drill for oil and gas safely in such remote regions.”
“Concerns over climate change should be recognised internationally as a limiting factor on any new oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.”
Sea-ice in the Arctic region is retreating and the rate of reduction is expected to increase as global temperatures rise. This will open up new commercial opportunities in the region including previously impassable shipping routes, fossil fuel deposits and fishing grounds.
Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) the five states surrounding the North Pole (Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark (via Greenland)), are able to submit bids for Arctic territory. This process is set to begin in Spring 2012 and ends in 2014 and will result in successful applicants gaining resource rights.
Although the UK has no jurisdiction over the Arctic, it does have strong commercial and scientific interests in the region and it sits on the Arctic Council. The Environmental Audit Committee will examine how the UK Government could use its influence – through regulation, incentives, dialogue and treaties - to ensure that any development of the region is sustainable and takes full account of its impacts on climate change and the environment.
Joan Walley MP added: “How the world deals with its remaining wildernesses will be a crucial test of our civilisation’s stewardship of the planet in the twenty first century.”
“Will we allow a free-for-all in the polar regions of our planet or can we work together to protect, share and manage these areas responsibly?”
The inquiry will examine:
• How the effects of global warming might open up the region to commercial opportunities, and how the UK in taking advantage of these might ensure that the region’s environment is protected;
• What the consequences will be of unrestricted development in the Arctic;
• How Arctic energy reserves might impact on UK energy security and policy;
• How new Arctic shipping routes and fishing grounds might affect UK maritime and fisheries policy;
• What other UK domestic and foreign policies may potentially impact on the Arctic; and
• How the Government might use its place on the Arctic Council to influence resource exploitation and steer development in the region a more sustainable path. And what other opportunities exist for the UK to influence politics in the region to ensure sustainable development of the region;
The Committee invites organisations and members of the public to submit written evidence, setting out their views on these issues. More wide ranging responses are also welcome. Submissions should ideally be sent to the Committee by Friday 10th February, although later submissions may be accepted
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