Arctic Circle Conflict

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The Arctic Circle in recent years has been the source of international conflict as natural resources are discovered and climate change is impacting the indigenous people, wildlife, and changing the arctic environment. The current governing body, the Arctic Council, and global agreements and treaties are not adequately protecting the Arctic environment. After examining the various conventions and treaties that have been made in effort to govern the Arctic Circle, it is evident that some legislation is in conflict with others, while other parts are ineffective and the constant battle over who has what power and where, and the lack of unanimous support for passed legislation all hinder the protection of the Arctic environment.
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The most well known NGO dedicated to the Arctic Circle is the Arctic Council was first conceived in 1991 and then later fully recognized in 1996. The Arctic Council is a collaboration of the circumpolar states and arctic indigenous groups, in addition to an observing crowd, which consists of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and non-circumpolar states. The intent of this assembly is to create a place in which the sovereign states and the native people, whose survival is dependent upon the region, can discuss the internal matters of the arctic region as a whole, excluding international disputes over borders and territory (Jacobs 2014, 527). In addition to the Arctic Council, many circumpolar states have specific agreements with local indigenous populations and …show more content…
One of the most important ideas to recognize when examining the Arctic environment is that it is mostly the result of actions that have been taken outside the Arctic Circle, but have had a dramatic impact in the area. This being said, the people in the Arctic have very little control over what is happening within their environment and the governing bodies in place are not adequately prepared to deal with it. The biggest contender for change is the force driving the quest for oil as the sea ice melts. However, taking a look at recent history, oil companies tend to take the least responsibility when things go wrong in the environment. Specifically looking at the British Petroleum oil spill of 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, spanning 87 days during which over 200 million gallons of oil were dumped into the ocean. Because of this human error, thousands of square miles of ocean and coastline and the organisms living within it have been negatively impacted, Americans have footed cleanup bills they are not responsible for, and the US is ultimately left holding the bag while BP escapes with only minimal fiscal damages (“11 Facts About the BP Oil Spill,” n.d.). Knowing that these types of environmental disasters are more common than we would like

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