Climate change that is melting ice caps means more trade routes through the Arctic and could result in an economic boom for the Arctic countries, according to Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Borge Brende.
“The Arctic Ocean is projected to be virtually ice-free in our decade, maybe even in a few decades from now,” Brende said Thursday in a speech at the American University School of Law.
Melting ice means more trading routes, and easier means to transport resources that the Arctic is known for, such as energy, minerals and food.
“An ice-free Arctic could shorten distances between the North Atlantic and East Asia by about 40%,” Brende said.
There have already been significant changes in the Arctic region in the past couple of years. In 2010, there were only four routes between the Bering Strait and Novaya Zemlya, an extreme northeast island in Russia, he noted. Now there are 10.
With this increasing opportunities comes great responsibility. “I would warn against a ‘Gold Rush,’ like we saw in the American West,” Brende said.
The United States is expected to take chairmanship of the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum between the U.S, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Sweden, Norway and Iceland, in 2015.
Brende urged American officials to understand the risks involved in this uncharted economic territory.
“We do not want to move too fast in strengthening maritime traffic. The Arctic area is one of the cleanest in the world, and it should stay that way,” Brende said. “We should increase our capacity for trade, while also keeping the same environmental standards that we have in place today.”
Even if all goes well with international trade policies, there will be some loss among the region.
“The fact is that we have animals whose habitat needs to be in ice, like the polar bears. No matter what prosperous policies we put in place, this is a fact. We are going to have to deal with CO2 emissions, this is a fact,” Bergen said.
“Climate change is going to be felt all over the world,” he said, “but be most clearly seen in the Arctic region.”