Future Policy Regulations of Polar Waters

Future Policy Regulations of Polar Waters

As stated in the case study, Polar ice is vanishing at an alarming rate due to rising global temperatures. This in turn will open up a region of untapped resources and new commercial shipping lanes. The five countries bordering the Arctic (Russia, the U.S., Canada, Denmark, and Norway), have already started scrambling for resources in the area, and tensions have been tightened between Russia, Canada, and the U.S. over where Russia’s continental shelf lies, which determines just how far out to sea Russia can lay claim to.

In the near future, as oil reserves begin to deplete and international commerce becomes stronger than ever, Russia, Canada, and the United States will be on the lookout for more undiscovered oil and gas reserves to feed its industrialized economies and power its populations. Political analysts believe that the world could be reduced to countries fighting each other for the few scant deposits of fossil fuels that are left. This could very well threaten the institutions and legislation created by modern societies that hold the anarchic system together. This is why extremely careful decision making is required when making policies that regulate resources between countries on an international scale.

Of the three policies proposed, I believe option three is the most politically fair. The Arctic should not be held at different standards than the Antarctic, considering there were no nations at the North Pole. With this policy, each of the five countries would get stake in the resources that the Arctic has to offer based on lines of longitude. This policy comes with an international facet, where the United Nations decides how the resources will be collectively managed and its profits or resources distributed among the Polar states. This policy will fall in line with the regulations of the UNCLOS or the “law of the sea”.

This decision would be most