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As climate change causes the Arctic to melt, Russia, Canada and others are poised to strike for the region’s resources

It began in early August when two Russian mini-submarines planted a rust-proof titanium flag on the seabed 14,000 feet below the North Pole. The act was presented in Russia as a “heroic mission”. “This is like placing a flag on the moon,” a spokesman for Russia’s Arctic and Antarctic Institute told Reuters.

Others were rather more scathing. “This isn’t the 15th century,” declared Canadian foreign minister Peter MacKay. “You can’t go around the world and just plant flags and say: ‘We’re claiming this territory.’”

However, little more than a week later, the Canadians were playing the same game. Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper was dragged away from holiday plans to undertake a three-day tour of his own country’s arctic region. Although he packed no metal flag, the aim of his trip was no less driven by territorial claims. “Canada has taken its sovereignty too lightly for too long,” Harper said. “This government has put a big emphasis on reinforcing, on strengthening our sovereignty in the Arctic.”

In the same week, the Danes got in on the act, sending a geological research mission from their arctic territory of Greenland. “The fact that Russia and Canada have claims in the same area doesn’t affect Denmark’s right to claim,” said Danish science and technology minister Helge Sander. Not to be left out, the Americans dispatched their ice-breaker Healy for a “research mission”.

This sudden flurry of activity is of course driven by resources. One study estimates that a quarter of the world’s oil and gas reserves are to be found under the Arctic, as well as significant deposits of other mineral riches. As global warming causes the polar ice to recede, so these resources are becoming accessible. Hence the rush to stake claims by the five countries with territory inside the Arctic Circle – Russia, the US, Norway, Denmark and Canada.

Rich resources

At the other end of the world, too, the potential for resource exploitation is being examined. Antarctica has large known reserves of many minerals, including copper, gold and silver, as well as oil and gas. In May 2006, Australian senator Barnaby Joyce urged his country to begin mining in the 42% of the continent that the Australians claim, before others stepped in. “Do I turn my head and allow another country to exploit my resource or do I position myself in such a way as I’m going to exploit it myself before they get there?” he said in a TV interview.

But the Antarctic is much better protected than the Arctic. Joyce’s comments led the Australian government to introduce a tough new law to penalise anyone attempting mining operations in the Antarctic: the penalty for violators would be up to 16 years in jail.

This region is also protected by the Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959. The subsequent Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, also known as the Madrid Protocol, signed in 1991, specifically banned mining on the continent, and this agreement is not up for review until 2041. The Madrid Protocol is not bullet-proof – only 46 countries have ratified it. However, its existence plus the sheer remoteness of the region make resource extraction from Antarctica something of a challenge.