Who owns the Arctic?

Question

The race for the North is heating up with Russia's recent claim to the area and now Canadian PM Stephen Harper's push for Arctic sovereignty.

Read more: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070809/national/harper_north

Answer 1

Who owns the Arctic? All the countries which own land within the Arctic Circle. Countries are allowed to claim 200 mi (320km) of ocean, projected out from their coastline. Therefore, Russia, Canada, Norway, Greenland (Denmark), the U.S, and Iceland all own parts of the ocean which is within the Arctic Circle.

So Russia plants a flag on the bottom of the ocean? Who cares? They don't own the North Pole any more than the United States owns the Moon. They are saying that some kind of undersea ridge counts as Russian national territory. Sorry, if you can't live on it, it's not land.

Are we going to start dividing up the land which is so far underwater that light can't even reach it? Water so deep that you would be crushed by the pressure if you tried to swim there?

On the map, in regards to the North Pole, Canada has the closest actual settlement where people live. Still, not even Canada can legitimately claim the Pole. It is too far away for that. I'm Canadian, and even I can admit that. Russia is even further away. Sorry, Russia.

Answer 2

Firstly, in response to those who have said that the United States cannot claim the Moon just because they put a flag there. I have evidence supporting this argument and I direct anyone that disagrees with that to read Article Two of the Outer Space Treaty (can be found in the sources section), which states that no nation can claim any part of space (the treaty specifically mentions the Moon, among other things).

Secondly, I'm getting rather sick and tired of other nations attempting to claim the Arctic region as their own. It is in international waters, but I feel I should point out that we are closer to it than anyone else, any good look at a map of the region will tell you that.

This is the third time a nation has attempted to infringe on Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. The other two attempts being: the incident with Denmark on an island between Ellesmere Island and Greenland, and the United States claiming that the Northwest Passage is an international waterway. Canada seems to be becoming a target because of our natural resources.

I hope this can be settled peacefully through international talks and the United Nations, but I fear that may depend on the results of the upcoming elections in the United States. Just in case those options fail, I think the expansion of the armed forces (specifically the navy) should be more of a priority. I'm NOT saying we should go to war, I'm saying we should be prepared in case someone else does.

PS: I'm sure Russia, Norway and Denmark would be in favour of a hockey tournament to settle the claim. I'm not too sure about the United States though, how many times have we beat them in hockey? And in both genders no less.

PPS: I'm in favour (if someone HAS to have it) of either Canada or Norway having it.

PPPS: Sorry for the long post. :(

Answer 3

Who Owns The Arctic Circle

Answer 4

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All of the countries you named own territory within the arctic circle. Those claims are not disputed. What is disputed is the arctic ocean, or more specifically the land under the arctic ocean. There is probably a great deal of oil. Therefore there are questions of international law dealing with what constitutes a continent, and who owns what part of the continental shelf. There are a lot of treaties that have to be interpreted. Or gotten around. Russia recently made a political statement by planting a flag underwater. Realistically the area is too dangerous to plant oil platforms. The cost of extraction and shipment would probably be greater than what you could earn.

Answer 5

The Arctic is a rather broad area. Do we classify the Arctic as anything above the Arctic Circle? If so, then many countries may dispute the claim of any one nation owning it.

As a Canadian, I feel that Canada does have claim over the arctic territory in its northern territoritorial region. On kost modern maps and charts, Canada's northern lands are shown as spanning from the Baffin Sea to the Beaufort Sea, and to the northern tip of Ellesmere Island.

Equally, I agree that Greenland, USA, Russia, Norway, and Finland all have territory that borders the Arctic Ocean and should have the right to defend their territorial waters, and harvest any food or minerals from their lands.

Ideally, any arctic land that is beyond a country's territorial waters should be treated as International territory. I would like to see it treated in the same way as the Antarctic, in that a treaty is in place that countries agree to use the space for peaceful purposes and only for scientific research.

So the question is not "Who owns the Arctic?" but rather "Where does each Arctic country's territorial waters end and international waters begin?".

Answer 6

Canada physically... or noone scientificly

Let me start at the beginning

Ok, I've seen alot of people say that everyone owns the arctic. If this is true then Mexico owns part, Brazil owns part, Iraq owns part, China Owns part etc. even though they are nowhere near the landmass in question.

Therefore everyone within the Arctic circle would own it

look above ^ so you get down do Russia and Canada

Canada is closer, but Russia has a land bridge, but the people of Canada have travelled to the Arctic for 1000s of years, well this is also true for Florida, but u don't c other Canadians making claims for florida, but then again Russia shouldnt own it either just because of a so-called landbridge, then every country would be an island.

still IMO Canada is more responcible and does have a better claim look above ^

scientifically

However, since there is no actual land to be claimed and it is all ice, and ice is just the solid form of water, and it is in international waters, therefore no one owns it, and no one can own it because it is just water/ice.

** to be edited later

Answer 7

I think that Canada has definite sovereignty over the Arctic. It is a part of Canada and is acknowledged all over the world and on maps. However, this could change if Russia wanted to claim it and started war. They have much better boats to navigate the Arctic and Canada would probably lose if Russia did use force to acquire the Arctic. Prime minister Stephen Harper should have spent more money on the icebreakers to navigate the Arctic instead of the more moderate boats. This way, Canada would have a better claim over the Arctic.

Answer 8

Canada owns a large percentage of the Arctic. The United States owns some because of Alaska, as well as Greenland and Norway and Britain. Canada's claim is the strongest. Russia wants oil people. The International community should stand up and say no to the Russians. The Russians also want the Middle East. The Russians do not want peace. Mark my words their will be war if the Russians keep this up.

Answer 9

The Arctic is defined as the land and waters extending from 70 degrees lattitude north to the north pole. While this includes the Canadian archipelago of Arctic islands and the surrounding sea, it also includes areas of the Arctic sea of which Greenland (Denmark), Russia, the US, and Finland all have legal 200 mile extensions from their coastline. There are two problems which arise in territorial claims for the arctic. One is right of passage in the seas through the Canadian archipelago of islands which the US claims is international waters, and the other is when the 200 mile extensions overlap due to the irregular coastlines of the Arctic nations. There is no question that Canada lays claim to the Arctic archipelago of islands and their surrounding waters extending 200 miles. This includes all the straits and passages that the US is trying to pretend is international waters. It would be hard to argue in an international court against Canada's historical claim and its uninterrrupted and continued presence there). As for the north pole, no country can lay claim because no country has territory close enough to it to extend their 200 mile sea claim. (Just for the record, Greenland is closer to the North Pole than Canada's Ellesmere Island). But like Canada's border with Maine and Alaska, we can get screwed by an international court if we don't assert our sovereignty. I didn't vote Conservative but I like Harper's Arctic policy.

Answer 10

Who ever permanently lives there owns the Arctic...this means the Innu and the Eskimo and historically that gives the biggest edge to Canada and also to the USA because of Alaska. Denmark has a historical right to a share because of Greenland, however Russia, Norway and Iceland are also is entitled to a portion due to territorial proximity. Unfortunately it is doubtful any resources in the Arctic Ocean basin will be extracted fairly -- essentially the first to find it gets it. Canada will likely be the one who will have to try to clean up the mess afterwards.