The Arctic This Week Take Five: Week of July 12, 2021
Greenland Joins EU Minerals Alliance
As of July 9, Greenland has become the newest member of the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA), Arctic Today reported. Launched last year, the multi-billion-euro effort promotes initiatives to help the bloc secure supplies of various strategic raw materials. Through its 450 members, the multi-stakeholder group coordinates investment and provides seed money for European mines and processing plants as well as related industries, such as magnets. The project initially received €10 billion ($12 billion) in funding from the European Commission. (Arctic Today, Nunatsiaq)
Take 1: Although political turmoil over potential mining in Greenland has garnered a great deal of attention in the geopolitical arena, Europe has been following the developments with particularly baited breath. The EU has its eyes strategically set on the island, with the union looking desperately to secure the kinds of rare earths Greenland possesses in abundance. In addition to being necessary for most modern technologies, the EU is also eager to find a more affable partner than the more adversarial China, which presently controls more than 90 percent of global production of rare earth minerals – and has not coincidentally also expressed interest in Greenland’s growing mining industry. However, this is no one-sided example of European wish fulfilment. Greenland’s decision to join the ERMA is equally strategic. After having elected a left-wing government opposed to mining radioactive minerals after a snap election over mining controversy earlier this year, the country is clearly extremely keen to cast away any doubts that it is not fully behind the development of a mining sector. Despite its contentious nature, the government views mining not only as a form of strengthening the economy but as a potential path towards realizing independence. However, that Greenland has chosen to align themselves with the EU, can also be seen as a bold rejection of courtship from other global superpowers. It will be interesting to see how these relations develop as Greenland begins to assert itself more confidently on the global stage. (AlJazeera, BBC, EU Observer, Mining Technology, Mongabay, The Diplomat)
Activists Accuse Ikea of Sourcing Illegal Wood from Siberia
As reported by The Moscow Times on July 15, U.K.-based environmental watchdog Earthsight has accused Swedish furniture conglomerate IKEA, along with other western firms, of sourcing illegal timber for manufacturing from Russian companies. After a yearlong investigation, the environmental NGO released a report detailing a number of environmental and forest related regulation breaches by the Siberian-based supplier ExportLes, including the illegal logging of some 4 million trees in protected forests in Siberia. In response, IKEA has denied wrongdoing, stating that ties had already been cut with the companies earlier this year based on the results of investigations by Russian environmental authorities. (Earthsight, Mongabay, The Moscow Times)
Take 2: This story would be considered important on its own simply to the sheer scale of IKEA production- as the world’s largest furniture retailer, you might have an illegally felled tree in your very own home. Ongoing for many years, Earthsight estimates that shoppers have been purchasing an IKEA product containing Russian lumber somewhere on earth every two minutes. However, the report suggests that the tainted wood is also in many other supply chains heading to Europe and the US, and that the majority of the EU’s imports from eastern Russia are potentially contaminated. This story therefore exposes just how far-reaching the extent of environmental corruption in Russia is. With Russia by far the largest exporter of softwood lumber worldwide, this is not without consequence. The Boreal forest might not be as high profile as the Amazon rainforest, but it is a hugely important defence in the line of climate change- storing more carbon than all tropical and temperate forests combined. However, responsibility does not lie solely with Russian suppliers. Not only IKEA, but German-based Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in charge of approving wood production as ‘green’ and legal has been quick to distance itself from any culpability. The destruction of vulnerable habitats and endangered species is not exactly in keeping with the sustainable image both aim to promote. This story therefore speaks to the chronic greenwashing of resource exploitation in the Arctic. It is critical that governments and private companies in the US and Europe stop shifting blame and instead take steps to address their responsibility in driving Arctic environmental degradation. (The Barents Observer, Earthsight, Earthsight)
Arctic Northwest Passage Could See Cruise Ships by End of Century
According to an article highlighted by Nature on July 9, Canada’s high Arctic could be traversable for cruise ships and other non-specialised vessels nearly year-round by the end of the century. Published by Nature Climate Change on July 8 by Canadian researchers, the study developed climate model simulations to investigate the impact of 1, 2 and 4 degrees Celsius warming on the navigability of major maritime routes in the Canadian Arctic. The projections indicate that some degree of navigation for ordinary vessels will already be made possible under 2 degrees Celsius warming. (Nature)
Take 3: It is well established that climate change-driven reductions in sea ice are facilitating increased shipping traffic volumes across the Arctic. Yet both the widely discussed Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route (NSR) are still off-limits for all but the most stalwart nuclear-powered ice-breakers, reserved for only the most exclusive of military and commercial shipping activity. This study therefore highlights an underappreciated angle on the conversation around Arctic shipping: the inevitable realisation of mainstream civilian travel throughout even the most challenging depths of the maritime high Arctic. Indeed, this might be happening sooner than we think. Although still out of the price range for most people at €50,000, one luxury cruise line has already started circumnavigating the NSR. This shows how the Arctic is facing a current tourism boom that will only be further aided by the melting ice described in the new study. However, there are concerns about the impacts and sustainability of tourism on Arctic ecosystems and communities. Coupled with disproportionately high carbon emissions, scientists have noted that associated acoustic disturbances, pollution, and waste from cruises are also damaging to species like narwhals. The potential increase in shipping traffic described here might ironically exacerbate the very destruction of the ‘pristine’ and ‘untouched’ nature tourists have travelled to admire, giving a new meaning to the burgeoning phenomenon of ‘extinction tourism’ centered around visiting endangered landscapes. It won’t be all smooth sailing just yet either, as the Viking Sky crisis that resulted in helicopter evacuation of tourists from a ship unprepared for unpredictable weather along the Northern Norwegian coast shows. Maybe it’s best to not book that cruise ticket just yet. (Forbes, Foresight, NBC)
Russian Military Sends Aid to Tackle Emergency Wildfire Situation in Siberia
With thousands of firefighters struggling to control the wildfires that have put parts of Siberia into a state of emergency for weeks, Russian President Putin has now ordered the Defence Ministry to assist the local authorities, as reported by the Guardian on July 14. The army has deployed an unspecified number of water-dropping Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft to the Russian Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), which has seen about 800,000 hectares of forest destroyed so far as Russia suffers through an abnormal heatwave. (The Guardian, Reuters)
Take 4: This latest fiery bout of devastation in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has thus far already led to the death of one person and the destruction of several villages, leading to increasingly anxious cries for help from residents, from petitions appealing directly to President Putin to digital campaigns targeting an international audience. The desperation has stood in contrast to the relatively calm public front of senior regional environmental officials who have instead claimed repeatedly that the ‘situation is under control.’ However, by finally deploying military personnel, the Russian state has shown that the fires have escalated to the point where they are now considered a national security threat worthy of intervention. Yet at the same time, with the far-reaching cries of locals even garnering the support of prominent actor and philanthropist Leonardo DiCaprio –whose offer to supply regional aid was rebutted by officials– one cannot help but wonder if Russian officials are only devoting full resources to tackle the crisis now as their otherwise tepid attempts were bringing them worldwide attention. With the Nordic nations currently facing similar shocking temperature extremes, it is worth for them to pay close attention as the consequences of extreme wildfires in relatively unprepared and unequipped nations like Sweden could ultimately end up being far more severe. (The Guardian, The Moscow Times, The Moscow Times, The Siberian Times)
US Military to Improve Arctic Space-Based Communication Infrastructure
The US Department of the Air Force is embarking on two ventures to address gaps in reliable communications in the North American Arctic according to an interview with Defense News on July 14. The first of these initiatives involves partnership with the commercial space industry, with the Department of the AirForce investing 50 million USD toward testing polar satellites that it plans to later lease. The second venture involves international collaboration with Norway, which will be hosting US communications payloads on an upcoming satellite launch. (Defence News)
Take 5: Despite being attached to some of the world’s most cyber-advanced countries, much of the Arctic suffers from notoriously low quality and inconsistent Internet infrastructure. The Department of the Air Force’s steps to address the digital gap could dramatically improve the daily lives of the region’s residents. Some 30% of the state of Alaska previously facing the barrier of unaffordable Internet communication will now finally be able to access essential modern services like telemedicine and remote education. This action therefore has broad potential for more inclusive and equitable Arctic development. However, civilians are merely residual benefitters of the true target of these projects, although the military has been eager to advertise otherwise to the public. Ultimately, we should keep in mind that these decisions are defence oriented. This reveals not only how the US views these remote regions as both an economic and security frontier, but that they are taking serious steps to overcome decades-long operating challenges in the Arctic. That it involves cooperation with Norway, a NATO treaty ally, is also telling of a real push towards an actual focus in shared defence planning. In the context of the current tentative, careful approach towards Russia by Western governments, these otherwise innocuous actions become instead relatively blatant strategy responses to perceived threats. (Anchorage Daily News, Defense News)