Breaking the Ice

Abstract

An accelerated path of climate change has tremendously increased the Arctic's profile over the last decade. Formerly remote and of little relevance, the region now attracts significant political and economic interest as melting ice opens possibilities for the exploitation of Arctic natural resources and access to new trade routes. Rising temperatures and sea level as a result of retreating snow and ice coverage also provoke global security concerns. Consequently, interested states increasingly link the Arctic more closely to their security and foreign policy strategies. In addition, existing territorial disputes combined with unsettled patterns of governance and actor constellations trigger regional developments with important implications for international legal and political systems.As developments in the Arctic region project themselves globally, they will necessarily have certain repercussions for European countries and their citizens. It is reported that about half of the fish caught in polar waters are consumed in the European Union. 1 One quarter of the oil and gas extracted Steffen Weber is the secretary general of the EU Arctic Forum in Brussels. IulianRomanyshyn is a researcher with the EU Arctic Forum.

Anticipating the Arctic and the Arctic Council: pre-emption, precaution and preparedness

“…. .it is time for the established Arctic policy actors to think seriously about how the EU could be included in the discussion of the region's future’ (Koivurova and others 2011, Weber and Romanyshyn 2011). And if that challenge was taken seriously then the ‘Arctic region’ itself would have to be viewed in more relational terms rather than strictly defined by territorial boundaries such as the Arctic Circle.…”