The Arctic Circle Assembly is the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2000 participants from over 60 countries. The Assembly is held every October in Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Center, Reykjavík, Iceland. With the event on the doorstep, a closer look at who has stakes in this region that has received a growing interest in recent years. The following map shows all nations that have territorial claims in the Arctic, the region that is defined as the area that lies North of the Arctic Circle at about 66°34’N:
Six nations share direct territorial claims in the Arctic through their exclusive economic zones(EEZ) that reach into the international waters above the Arctic Circle. These zones reach 200 nautical miles from the coast of the state as depicted in this map. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that:
“In the exclusive economic zone, the coastal State has:
(a) sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, of the waters superjacent to the seabed and of the seabed and its subsoil, and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds; […]”
While also being situated within the Arctic Circle, Sweden and Finland have no coastline in the region and are therefore excluded from claims to the territorial seas there. Denmark’s territorial claims are made through Greenland which is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, as are the Faroe Islands whose EEZ does not reach into Arctic waters.
A main reason for the growing geopolitical interest in the region lies in climate change which makes the resources in the region more accessible, as well as the potential for new shipping routes that would considerably shorted routes such as those between Europe and Asia. The impact of climate change becomes obvious when studying the changing sea ice extent over recent decades.
This map shows the Arctic Sea ice in its minimum and maximum extent during the year 2020. The month with the smallest extent was in September, while the maximum was reached towards the end of the Arctic winter in March. The map also shows the median sea ice extent in the region over a 30 year period from 1981 to 2010 for comparison. The National Snow and Ice Data Center noted that the minimum extent in 2020 was the second lowest in the nearly 42-year satellite record.
This blog post is a modified version of content published in the July 2021 edition of Geographical Magazine. The content on this page has been created by Benjamin Hennig. Please contact me for further details on the terms of use.