Norwegian scientists: No armed fight for resources foreseen in the Arctic

A new study from the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen Institute concludes that a military dispute over natural resources in the Arctic is not very likely, and that dispassionate diplomacy is a more likely and rational way of dispute resolution than military confrontation.

- Contrary to the general picture drawn by the media and some commentators over the last couple of years, the Arctic region does not suffer under a state of virtual anarchy. The era when states could claim rights to territory and resources by simply planting their flag is long gone, says law of the sea expert Øystein Jensen, one of researchers behind the study, the FNI web site reads.

Since the issues some call “security policy challenges” are already largely regulated by international law that most states find it to their benefit to observe, the room for conflict is limited, the study reads. Issues and disputes whose resolution procedures are not clearly lined out in international law, are relatively minor.

In their study, the researchers have focused on case studies involving Norwegian-Russian relations in the Barents Sea, including delimitation of unresolved maritime boundaries, the status of the waters and continental shelf around Svalbard and management of marine resources. The results of each of these case studies support the overall conclusion that there is little legal space and little rational role for military conflict resolution in the Arctic.

Read the whole study on FNI’s web site.

Powered by Labrador CMS