Revision of UNCLOS is best regime for Arctic Governance from Sun, 07/21/2013 - 00:33
Quicktabs: Arguments
While it may be peculiar that geologic structures might dictate ownership of resources,n269 Russia has obtained a competitive edge by operating persistently and adhering to the provisions of the Convention. Most importantly, other Arctic States have seen the writing on the wall. Aware of the undeniable progress Russia has made, the other littoral countries have been stirred from their casual observance of UNCLOS within the Arctic, and have undertaken new cartographic datagathering expeditions to claim as much territory as they can under the parameters of the Convention.n270 In fact, following Russia's 2001 submission, eight other countries began work on filing their own CLCS submissions under UNCLOS.
For example, Canada recently changed the nature of its Arctic claims to conform to UNCLOS procedure, by departing from simple reaffirmations of past assertions of sovereignty and instead beginning work on a continental shelf proposal due for submission in 2013.n272 Even the United States participated in a joint seabedmapping mission in the Beaufort Sea last month, a region widely considered the "top prize in the Arctic oil rush."
In particular, the rush to reclaim the Arctic is "reminiscent of early efforts to conquer Antarctica." n293 The Antarctic Treaty System is a unique international legal regime and has developed international cooperation for almost fifty years. n294 When the Antarctic Treaty was negotiated in 1959, it designated the continent as a completely demilitarized zone of peace, halting all claims of sovereignty in order to focus on exploration and scientific research. n295 Drilling was also prohibited without the approval of threefourths of the nations with voting power.
However, the South Pole is an inexact parallel. Antarctica, in contrast to the Arctic, is an expansive landmass, and over 90% of the Antarctic is entirely inaccessible. Measuring 14 million square kilometers, the continent is larger than the U.S. and Mexico combined, and dwarfs the Arctic. n296 While there is extensive marine biodiversity, the mineral and hydrocarbon resources of the Antarctic do not exist in the same commercially exploitable quantities as they do in the North Pole. n297 Several effete attempts have been made to stake a claim of sovereignty in the pursuit of Southern Ocean seabed mining, but these are without precedential value. The most dispositive reason militating against using the Antarctic Treaty system as a basis for a new Arctic regime is simply that some Arctic States are far more concerned with their own claims of sovereignty than with environmental issues.