ARCTIC: Militarization & more – 25th Jun 2024

Góðan daginn from BA! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 25th of June twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

The militarization of the Arctic has been focused on NATO and Russia, but new defense agreements are also being made. As reported by the Canadian news agency CBC on Thursday the 20th, defense ministers from Canada, Norway, and Germany met in early June to discuss a trilateral defense and security partnership covering the North Atlantic and the Arctic. The agreement would create combat platforms for each of the three nations to protect the North Atlantic and Arctic. As part of this deal, Canada has been invited to join the existing submarine joint program between Germany and Norway. The three nations will cooperate on funding and operating a new fleet of submarines to combat any threats heading to Europe and Canada.

Still on Norway’s military agreements, on Thursday the 20th, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre confirmed the country has agreed to create a military corridor that stretches from Northern Norway, across Sweden and to Finland’s border with Russia. This agreement allows military hardware to be transported from Europe and North America to the Arctic border. This corridor was tested in April when a massive NATO exercise practiced the transportation of troops and hardware across the European Arctic. The test was successful enough to prompt the permanent creation of the Arctic’s first international military corridor.

However, military action is not enough when it comes to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On Thursday the 20th, the Council of the European Union confirmed that EU ambassadors have agreed to impose a ban on the re-export of Russian natural gas, which accounts for about twenty percent of gas moving through Europe. These sanctions will take effect in March twenty twenty-five.

In response, Russian energy giant Novatek announced on Thursday that they are assembling a new fleet of ice-class ships. These ships will use the melting Arctic Ocean to transport gas from the Arctic to markets outside the EU, allowing Novatek to bypass the ban and avoid any significant loss of business.

Apart from oil and gas, rare minerals are among the Arctic's most crucial industries. Canada had reason to cheer on Monday the 17th when mining company Vital Metals announced it was selling a massive stockpile of critical minerals from its northern Canada mine to the Canadian federal government for about $3 million US dollars. This is a huge decision because in December, Vital Metals planned to sell this stockpile to the Chinese government. The initial decision sparked backlash from the Canadian government, which aimed to establish a source of rare minerals independent of Chinese influence. The purchase will be transferred to the Saskatchewan Research Council, which plans to process and deploy the minerals within Canada, keeping this vital resource under domestic control.

Along with protecting its mineral supply, Canada is protecting its natural land. On Wednesday the 19th, the Canadian federal government announced the creation of a new conservation area in the northern Yukon territory. The Aullaviat Anguniarvik Traditional Conservation Area is 8,500 square kilometers, about 3,300 square miles large, and has been given over to the local Indigenous Inuvialuit people to manage. The territorial government, along with various philanthropic organizations, has contributed about $10 million US dollars to create programs and jobs for the Inuvialuit community to manage and monitor the area.

To know more about this land and why it’s so important for the Arctic ecosystem, check out the link in the show notes!

Alaska has a different strategy for protecting its environment. Caribou herds, once vast, have declined by almost 90% in the last twenty years. To address this, the Alaska Department of Game has been culling bears over the past year, hoping to boost caribou populations by reducing their predators.

On Sunday the 23rd, the department released data from the program's first year, showing that after hunting around eighty bears in Alaska, calf survival rates for caribou have doubled compared to the last decade. While this suggests the bear hunt is effective, biologists working with the Department of Game argue that the strategy is short-sighted, emphasizing that the real threat against the caribou in Alaska is climate change.

A rare mystery in Canada’s Arctic has garnered significant research attention in recent months. As we discussed in our previous show, the grolar bear, a hybrid between polar bears and grizzly bears, is rarer than previously thought.

On Thursday the 20th, new research by the University of Manitoba, published in Conservation Genetics Resources, unveiled the origins of these bears. The study found that every known grolar bear descends from the same female polar bear. This female, tracked by scientists, simply prefers mating with grizzly bears. What started as a worry that polar bears might be bred out of existence ends with the revelation of a bear with a unique preference.

In Greenland, Indigenous children mistreated by the Danish government decades ago want justice. On Friday the 21st, Greenlandic news agency Sermitsiaq reported that lawyer Mads Pramming filed a suit against the Danish government, demanding compensation for four Greenlandic Inuit who were forcibly taken by the Danish government from their families without parental consent and adopted by Danish families between the fifties and seventies. He seeks about $1 million US dollars in compensation for the victims. Pramming has prepared a court summons to escalate the fight legally in case the government doesn’t respond soon.

In some better news from Greenland, on Thursday the 20th, the Greenlandic government officially joined the Paris Climate Agreement. A ceremony held in Greenland’s capital Nuuk also involved the Greenlandic and Danish governments signing a new cooperation deal to ensure that Denmark supports Greenland’s needs in international climate negotiations. By joining the Paris Climate Agreement, Greenland commits to reducing harmful emissions, protecting biodiversity, and limiting global warming.

Finland has been part of the Paris Climate Agreement since twenty sixteen, but a new report by the World Wildlife Foundation, published on Tuesday the 18th, reveals that the country is consuming natural resources at a rate far above both European and world averages. Despite committing to reducing resource use to sustainable levels by twenty thirty, the report shows that Finland uses over thirty-five tonnes of raw materials per capita, more than seven times the global average. To become a sustainable nation, the country must reduce its resource consumption by over seventy percent, but there are currently no government plans to achieve this.

Moving on, Arctic communities rely heavily on fish for both sustenance and income. The latest report from the Joint Norwegian and Russian Research Group, released on Friday the 21st, brings concerning news. It recommends significant reductions in quotas for all major fish species in the Arctic, following annual cuts over the past three years. The only silver lining is an increase in young fish populations over the last year, indicating that previous quota reductions are aiding recovery. Nevertheless, fishermen across the Arctic face the challenge of making a living with the lowest fishing quotas since the record low of two thousand three.

Up next, The Icelandic Meteorological Office issued a statement on Monday, the 24th, confirming that the volcanic eruption in southern Iceland, which began nearly a month ago, has finally ended. Lava flow has ceased, and seismic activity has significantly decreased. This news will be a relief to local residents, especially after the events reported by Icelandic Civil Authorities on Friday, June 21st, when an increase in lava flow breached protective barriers around the local power plant. Emergency services had to intervene to prevent a potentially serious incident. The Sundhnúkur volcano has erupted five times since last December, and it remains uncertain whether this marks the end of Iceland's recent volcanic activity or if another eruption lies in wait.

Finally, it’s the North Pole’s time to shine. The summer solstice, the moment when the north pole is most tilted towards the sun, arrived on Thursday the 20th at 8:51 PM GMT 0. The exact timing of the solstice moves around depending on quirks in the calendar and this year was the earliest solstice in over 200 years.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Do you know that besides the Arctic Update, we also do others? Our latest ones are the Multilateral about what’s going down in the world’s major multilateral organizations, and the Ocean Update, about the 70% of the world covered in salt water. The other ones are all country updates, we have a selection of countries from Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe. Check roroshok.com/updates to see the full list. Find the link in the show notes as well.

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