Listening comprehension – Video bonus + transcript

This is the Arctic ocean – a beautiful, treacherous and increasingly desirable body of water surrounding the northern pole of planet Earth. But who owns this remote wilderness? And can countries even own oceans?
The continued warming of the Arctic has brought this, the smallest of the world’s oceans into the limelight as a new frontier for fishing, natural resource exploration, and shipping. These three industries have made ownership over this polar region an enticing prospect for those countries off its coast. The Arctic ocean is bordered by Iceland, Greenland – as part of the kingdom of Denmark – Canada, the United States, Russia and Norway.
This makes Norway the only country to stake a territorial claim over both part of the Arctic and part of the Antarctic. Like the Antarctic, the Arctic is an inhospitable place. There are few large seaports around the coastline to assist if ships run into trouble. The coastal areas are shallow and unfamiliar, not to mention the constant hazard of large, floating chunks of ice. In winter, the sun never rises, making it a virtually pitch-black frozen waste, and in summer, the sun never sets, but brings with it rain, snow and fog. Sounds pretty bleak!
But the ongoing warming of the climate of the Earth has reduced the amount of sea ice in recent decades. If this trend continues, less sea ice will provide easier access for ships during more months of the year, which will increase the accessibility of fishing and drilling and shipping. New shipping routes may also become safe for more ships in decades to come, as well as the possible discovery of yet-undiscovered natural resources. But with so many countries vying for such a small ocean, where do the maritime boundaries of each country lie, and how do we decide who gets what?
For the answer, we need to look to the United Nations convention on the law of the sea.
Twelve nautical miles, or about 22 kilometres, off the coast of a country are the territorial waters. On the territorial waters, the laws of that country apply. 22 kilometres further is the contiguous zone. This is now international waters, but that country still controls customs laws, fiscal laws, immigration laws and pollution laws.
Beyond the contiguous zone is the Exclusive Economic Zone. The Exclusive Economic Zone (or EEZ) can extend to 370 kilometres, or 200 nautical miles off that country’s coastline. Within this zone, that country has exclusive rights to any resources, including fishing and drilling. This is what the Exclusive Economic Zones look like in the Arctic.
But it’s not quite that simple. Because an Exclusive Economic Zone is in International Waters, the territory isn’t actually owned by a country. But remember, ownership isn’t just about territory for territory’s sake. Countries are content to have control over the fishing and drilling and shipping. So while the EEZ’s are not owned, they can be exploited exclusively by their controlling country. Although, it is not worth noting that ships should still have freedom of navigation for innocent passage, such as shipping. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea takes the EEZ one step further though, which somewhat complicates things for the Arctic. If a country can prove that its continental shelf extends beyond the 370-kilometre-distance of the Economic Zone, that country also gets exclusive rights to those minerals on the continental shelf seabed and below. However, this is not an extension of the EEZ, and so does not include exclusive rights to fishing. This has led to several countries considering extending their claims to various portions of the Arctic seabed – including regions which overlap with each other. It seems these disputes should be easy to settle, but the continental shelves of the Arctic have not been fully mapped yet and countries tend to undertake their own research, so each claim has to be assessed individually by the UN. If we add the current and possible future continental shelf claims by Arctic countries, the Arctic ocean starts to look very crowded. So thanks to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and an unending appetite for resources, as the Arctic melts, it gets more and more economically important.
For example, the shipping route between Japan and New York is about 19% shorter going via the Arctic Ocean and Canada’s North-West passage, compared to going via the Panama Canal. And the route between Japan and North-West Europe is about 30% shorter than via the Indian ocean and the Suez Canal. One report suggests that thanks to increased sea ice melting, large scale shipping through the Arctic will be viable by the year 2040. So, the answer to the question, “Who owns the Arctic Ocean?” is complex and still evolving.
Will countries most likely argue for whatever is in their favour? Definitely. Which is why, as globalisation continues and the world becomes smaller, it will be even more important to ensure that portions of the Earth remain protected. As fishing and drilling and shipping increase in the Arctic in the future, it will also be more important than ever to protect the wildlife that may already be struggling there. For now, it is up to the UN to decide if countries and corporations get exploitation rights over disputed areas of the Arctic, or if these areas belong to you. But not just you – to everyone. The UN aims to ensure the preservation of unclaimed natural areas for the ‘common heritage of all mankind’. That means you. That means us.




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