Nitya Chakraborty
The race is on among the big global powers including USA, Russia, China and the European Union to take part in the massive efforts that are currently on to explore the vast untapped resources of the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Council’s eight member nations are under tremendous pressure to give full observer status to China, Japan, European Union and India at its meeting in May this year when Canada assumes chairmanship of the Council.
USA, as one of the major Arctic nations, has done major investigation and exploration work on Ocean resources and this has been followed by Russia which has also collected massive data. India which is associated with the exploration work in the Ocean for long, has been doing extensive data collection and India has applied for full observer status on the basis of its record of having wealth of experience to contribute to the strengthening of the information pool of the Council. Indian experts have extensive experience in exploration work in the oceans and all the areas covered by the Arctic Council, are of crucial importance to India.
Indian experts believe that Arctic is going to be an important hub for possible sources of energy and it could be a passage which shortens transit lines for shipping. Apart, the region contains many areas for scientific investigation in which India has deep interests. India has been working with Arctic Council’s eight member nations and India has offered its experts to the Arctic pool for investigations. India feels that through its size of technological personnel including those in navigation, it can contribute a lot to the human resources of the existing Arctic Circle activities. Already an experimental station of India is working in Norway with the objective of carrying out deep sea research.
Russia, being a member of the Arctic Council, has been active for long and Russian researchers have collected sufficient probative data to substantiate Russian continental shelf boundaries. This, within the framework of three month geological and physical expedition Arctic 2012 on validation of outer boundaries of Russian continental shelf, researchers have gathered more than 22 thousand rock samples from the Arctic ocean. The Russians say that the results of ocean floor seismic exploration denote that Mendeleev Ridge is of similar nature of continental structure
Russia has submitted to the United Nations a request for recognition of Lomonosov shelf as its territory and in its bid, Russia wants India’s support. Russian argument is that among all Arctic states, Russia is the most tested partner of India and supporting the position of Moscow now, New Delhi significantly consolidates its chances to get access to the richest Russian shelf deposits, North Sea route flow lanes and well developed infrastructure on favourable conditions in future. There is another political angle to this. China is equally active in the region and Beijing’s geographical position places it in a more advantageous position vis a vis India for using Arctic resources to satisfy raw material needs. An understanding between Russia and India will be far beneficial to India in getting maximum benefits from the Arctic resources.
Russian sources maintain that the results of the US scientific investigations coincide with Russian assessments. In particular, evaluation of analysis data of Latest expeditions into the high latitudes on icebreaker Healey made US researchers change their earlier assessments of Lomonosov ridge and Mendeleev Ridge geological nature. Presently US Arctic Research Commission experts are inclined to admit that Arctic underwater mountain chains have continental nut not volcanic character. The dismissal of the second Russian application by the UN committee is considered by Russia as politically motivated, biased towards USA and may cause undermining of international maritime law principles.
Since the head of the UN committee is an Indian nominee, Russia is looking forward towards a favorable decision taking into account the possibilities of collaboration between both countries in the Arctic Ocean region. Further, none of the Sub-arctic states will ever allow uncontrolled mining operations in its zone. Thereupon, countries without direct outlet to Arctic Ocean waters will probably be either totally deprived of the opportunity to exploit Arctic Region deposits or will have to collaborate with companies of USA, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia on evidently unprofitable terms. An understanding with Russia can facilitate this process smoother for India.
According to the Arctic report card 2012, observations of the Arctic marine ecosystem provide further evidence of linkages between sea ice conditions and primary productivity, with impacts on the abundance and composition of phytoplankton communities. For instance, new satellite remote sensing observations show the near ubiquity of ice-edge blooms throughout the Arctic and the importance of seasonal sea ice variability in regulating primary production. These results suggest that previous estimates of annual primary production in waters where these under-ice blooms develop may be about ten times too low. At a higher trophic level, seabird phenology, diet, physiology, foraging behavior and survival rates have changed in response to higher water temperatures, which affect prey species.
Changes in the terrestrial ecosystem are exemplified by vegetation and mammals. The tundra continues to become more green and in some locations above-ground plant biomass has increased by as much as 26% since 1982. The length of the growing season increased throughout much of the Arctic, e.g., by ~30 days in Eurasia, between 2000 and 2010. There is evidence that the lemming population cycle is decaying, i.e., the time between population peaks is increasing, and the amplitude of the cycle is collapsing to relatively low population densities.
One species most directly affected by lemming population dynamics is the Arctic fox, which depends on them as a primary food source. In Europe, the Arctic fox population has declined to near extinction due to failure to recover from over-harvesting at the start of the 20th Century and the recent absence of lemming peaks. In contrast, the Arctic fox is abundant in North America. However, in both regions, the larger Red fox has been expanding northward, leading to increased competition with the Arctic fox for resources.
The present global geopolitical reality demands that India takes a holistic view of the moves in the Arctic Ocean region and its impact on the energy security of the country. A firm understanding between India and Russia is of long term interests for both the countries. (IPA)
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel