The Arctic seems like a region filled with beautiful scenery of blues and greens courtesy of National Geographic, however, that is not true. Underneath the Arctic is over a fifth of the world’s undiscovered fossil fuels, that all includes 90 billion barrels of oil and 47 cubic meters of natural gas. Not only that, there is large deposits of precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum. Currently, the world is facing the problem of these resources depleting quickly, as a response of that, many countries are looking towards the Arctic to refill on their resources. Some of the countries that are looking at this solution is Canada, Russia, the United States, Norway, and Denmark. In 1996, there was a method to resolve any conflicts brought up by the Arctic Council which was to have a military control the other countries.
France brought up the point to get rid of the current Arctic Council and to bring up a new Arctic Council that focuses more on international interests. However, this point caused an uproar by the United Kingdom who believed that having a new council will create a non-transparent council. They believed that if there were to be a new council, it should be filled with people with the interests of the Arctic in mind. New Zealand brought up the fact that the Arctic Council is only trying to keep the peace and not bother other countries. Russia had stated that the current Arctic Council is the best option right now because they have the interest of the Arctic countries in mind. Russia has stated that no war or conflicts was needed. The nation also proposed to introduce news rules to keep the transparency in the council. Chile also agreed with Russia and said that a completely new Arctic council would now be needed and useful. However, they were the only country to acknowledge that cooperation between the countries is required to resolve the conflicts.
With the topic of creating a new council absolved, a new solution was proposed and that was to reform the Arctic Council. The United Kingdom brought out the point that it was impossible to get rid of the current council and suggested that they needed to work with what they have now. Australia and several other countries have suggested to have rotating member states in the Arctic Council to bring in some international interests to the council. The nations hoped that these members would not have to be voting members, but could have a voice in the council. They believe the Arctic Council should still have veto power and the final say in anything discussed.
After a period of interviewing multiple countries, countries were able to give some of their stances. The United States of America believes that the Arctic Council should have jurisdiction over the Arctic region and that they need demilitarization to open the trade routes. Iceland would like to address concerns from non-Arctic states and find a peaceful compromise in the form of offering them a minority of voting seats. Austria hopes to have more international influence with rotating member states to represent international interest and also they concern how the environment will be affected. China believes in giving smaller individual countries in Southeast Asia a voice. The United Kingdom believes that the Arctic council needs reformation to improve their security and military and, they believe that transparency is needed to promote peace. Finally, Russia believes that transparency in the council is crucial and, they want to cooperate with other nations’ militaries to the open passageways in the Arctic.
France brought up the point to get rid of the current Arctic Council and to bring up a new Arctic Council that focuses more on international interests. However, this point caused an uproar by the United Kingdom who believed that having a new council will create a non-transparent council. They believed that if there were to be a new council, it should be filled with people with the interests of the Arctic in mind. New Zealand brought up the fact that the Arctic Council is only trying to keep the peace and not bother other countries. Russia had stated that the current Arctic Council is the best option right now because they have the interest of the Arctic countries in mind. Russia has stated that no war or conflicts was needed. The nation also proposed to introduce news rules to keep the transparency in the council. Chile also agreed with Russia and said that a completely new Arctic council would now be needed and useful. However, they were the only country to acknowledge that cooperation between the countries is required to resolve the conflicts.
With the topic of creating a new council absolved, a new solution was proposed and that was to reform the Arctic Council. The United Kingdom brought out the point that it was impossible to get rid of the current council and suggested that they needed to work with what they have now. Australia and several other countries have suggested to have rotating member states in the Arctic Council to bring in some international interests to the council. The nations hoped that these members would not have to be voting members, but could have a voice in the council. They believe the Arctic Council should still have veto power and the final say in anything discussed.
After a period of interviewing multiple countries, countries were able to give some of their stances. The United States of America believes that the Arctic Council should have jurisdiction over the Arctic region and that they need demilitarization to open the trade routes. Iceland would like to address concerns from non-Arctic states and find a peaceful compromise in the form of offering them a minority of voting seats. Austria hopes to have more international influence with rotating member states to represent international interest and also they concern how the environment will be affected. China believes in giving smaller individual countries in Southeast Asia a voice. The United Kingdom believes that the Arctic council needs reformation to improve their security and military and, they believe that transparency is needed to promote peace. Finally, Russia believes that transparency in the council is crucial and, they want to cooperate with other nations’ militaries to the open passageways in the Arctic.