“Norway’s Polar Strategy”
by Ambassador Arne Walther
NORWAY-JAPAN POLAR SEMINAR
Embassy of Norway “Arctic Hall” , Tokyo, Japan
26 April 2010
Norway has a polar identity – both in the Arctic North and Antarctic South. We have the pioneer’s pride at being in the international forefront of polar exploration as well as of commercial and scientific activity in the polar regions. Not only in our Arctic “back yard”, but also further away, in fact as far away as you can get from Norway, in the Antarctic. Quite natural for a sea-faring nation.
We are attracted to the polar regions. The largest wilderness areas in the world. Long protected by ice and cold from excessive human interference. These regions are as unique as their environmental value is immeasurable. Their natural resources are immense. Norway has long-standing tradition, presence and interests in both Polar regions. Norwegians have a polar identity, because these frontier challenges were challenges that we just had to take on.
Polar Passion
This polar identity has passed from generation to generation and sparked polar passion among Norwegians young and old, male and female. Even here among the staff of the Embassy of Norway in Japan. Last year, in polar passion, we renamed the hall in which you now are sitting to the “Arctic Hall”. I ask you. What passion would you feel with its former name “the Multi-functional Hall”?
I do not know what it takes to become a national hero in Japan. But I do know that the most certain way to become a national hero in Norway, but perhaps not the easiest way, is to pursue the polar passion. We have many national polar heroes and national polar heroines as well.
Fridtjof Nansen was the first man to cross Greenland on skis. He almost succeeded in his attempt to be the first man to reach the North Pole in 1895. Instead, the American Robert Peary could claim that honour fourteen years later.
With that prize taken, Roald Amundsen, another Norwegian with polar passion and also wanting a polar first prize, became the first man in history to reach the South Pole, planting the Norwegian flag there when he beat Britain’s Robert Scott in the epic dog-sled race in 1911. That means a hundred year jubilee to celebrate next year. He was also the first to sail through the North West Passage in one ship and determined the position of the magnetic North Pole. He later reached the geographic North Pole more comfortably by air in a zeppelin in 1926, thus becoming the first man to have reached both poles.
For Norwegians, a polar adventure on skis, testing our endurance and skills against the extremes of nature, is what really counts. Not to be outdone in the gender perspective, a contemporary Norwegian explorer Liv Arnesen became the first woman to reach the South Pole on skis alone and unassisted in 1994.
And, Ladies and Gentlemen, mentioning Norwegian polar heroes, we must not forget Dr Olav Orheim, who is in charge of Norway’s Polar Year Programme and who has weathered more than 30 field seasons in the Arctic and Antarctic. We thank him for bringing and displaying contemporary Norwegian polar passion in person to us today.
International Polar Year
Norway and Japan have both contributed actively to the Fourth International Polar Year 2007-2008. An extraordinary effort of our scientists along with those of some sixty other countries that pooled their efforts to increase our common knowledge about the Arctic and Antarctica. One of the largest international science collaborations ever undertaken. And that at a time, when international interest in the polar regions, not least in the climate change perspective, has never been higher. This was the fourth International Polar Year. The first was held in 1882-1883. Norway was one of twelve nations that then took part.
Norway will follow-up the 4th IPY by hosting the International Polar Year Oslo Science Conference on 8-12 June. This will be the first meeting-point for the scientists involved in the 4th IPY. The aim of this international and interdisciplinary scientific Conference is to demonstrate, strengthen and extend the full scope and implications of the IPY endeavour. It will highlight the global impact of the changes observed in the polar regions. I am happy to see that distinguished Japanese scientists, as of today sixty experts on various polar disciplines, will be among the some three thousand scientists taking part in the Oslo Conference.
Our Norway-Japan Polar Seminar today testifies to our close co-operation in polar issues and is a stepping-stone from Tokyo to the forthcoming Oslo Conference. Dr. Orheim and Professor Yamanouchi have given us the comprehensive scientific backdrop. Deputy Director General Horinouchi has outlined Japan’s Arctic policy. My task is to add some Norwegian polar policy perspectives.
Top and Bottom
Antarctica means the opposite of the Arctic. Not surprising when we look at the map. The Arctic on top of the world and the Antarctic at the bottom. They share two basic and interrelated characteristics - ice and cold. But they are fundamentally different, as “opposites” usually are, from another basic, and very political, perspective. Under the Arctic ice there is water, an ocean. Under the Antarctic ice there is land, a continent in fact. Antarctic ice holds 90% of total fresh water to be found on the surface of the Earth.
The core of the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by the land masses of five countries, all of which have continental shelves extending even further north as recognized by international law. Norway is one of these five countries. People have lived and thrived in the Arctic for thousands of years. The Arctic Ocean is not governed by an area-specific regime or treaty. This, however, does not leave the Arctic in a legal vacuum. On the contrary, the Arctic benefits from principles and regulations enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which more than 150 nations are party, and other international agreements, such as the Polar Code of IMO, the International Maritime Organization, which is now being strengthened.
The Antarctic, on the other hand, is a land mass surrounded by oceans. Except for friendly Emperor Penguins, there is no permanent population other than scientists. Several countries claim jurisdiction over chunks of the Antarctic. The area of Norway’s Antarctic claim is large. Seven and a half times the area of Japan. We call it Queen Maud Land. We were happy to receive Japanese visitors to our all-year research station there called “Troll” as recently as January this year.
Our Antarctic claim was originally driven by the need to secure our whaling interests. Norway once dominated Antarctic whaling. We stopped our whaling there in the late 1960’s. But we continue our whaling today in northern waters.
Norway and Japan were among the 12 countries that participated in the negotiations that led to the Antarctic Treaty signed in 1959 and are, as such, both given special recognition in the preamble of the Treaty. Despite disagreement on jurisdiction claims among countries involved, the Antarctic Treaty provides a well-functioning legal order for international co-operation to deal with the challenges at hand, enabling environmental protection and international scientific co-operation. It has been in force since 1961. That means a 50th anniversary to celebrate next year along side our celebration of the 100th anniversary of Amundsen reaching the South Pole.
The Arctic Challenge
As Deputy Director General Horinouchi has done, I will focus on the Arctic in my remarks as well. Not least in view of the great international interest that the Arctic commands today. In fact, this interest of governments, industry and civil society is getting bigger and bigger as the Arctic ice sheet is getting smaller and smaller. And I will focus on the Arctic not least in view of the good co-operation that Norway and Japan enjoy there today and the exciting potential for increased co-operation in the years ahead.
The Arctic is one of the last expanses of pristine nature and intact eco-systems in our Northern Hemisphere. Abundant in living marine resources. Highly sensitive in terms of eco-balance. The annual mean temperature in the Arctic has been rising at almost twice the global average over the last decades. We have seen first hand the spectacular retreat and collapse of ice shelves. The Arctic ice-cap melting much faster than scientists predicted only a few years ago. A rate of more than one and a half times the area of Japan per decade.
Indeed, the most visible signs of climate change can be seen precisely at the poles, north and south. But the impact of climate change is stronger on the people who live close to the Equator than on the four million people or so who live in the Arctic. Melting polar ice will have implications in the form of rising sea levels and accelerated global warming.
The melting of Arctic ice gives rise to concern about the sustainability of the area’s substantial fishing stocks. And we are aware of the area’s environmental vulnerabilities. But the melting of Arctic ice holds also great commercial potential with regard to extracting natural resources, to local and regional economic development and to the opening of new sea routes for trade between nations. When we add the strategic and military perspective, the grand sum of all this equals greater geo-political importance.
Canada, which has this year’s presidency of the G8, is displaying Arctic credentials by hosting high-level meetings in her Arctic region. Russia has long-standing interests here as another Arctic coastal state. Half the circumpolar Arctic coastline is Russian. Russia presented a new Arctic Strategy last year.
New Petroleum Frontier
High oil prices and energy security concern have attracted petroleum political and industry attention to the Arctic. Climate change and the melting of the ice that has covered the Arctic for millennia is making a substantial new frontier, perhaps the last, more accessible for long-term petroleum activity in an energy hungry world.
While conflict and political unrest may characterize many of the other petroleum provinces of the world, the Arctic stands out as a stable and peaceful region. This above-ground factor increases interest in the below-ground petroleum promise of the High North and Arctic, where both onshore and offshore petroleum developments are expanding into new areas. The biggest concentration is in the Russian part of the Barents Sea.
The US Geological Survey estimated in its 2008 review that more than a fifth of the yet-to-be-discovered reserves of oil and natural gas in the world could be found in the Arctic. More than four-fifths of this offshore. Interesting for global energy security? Technologically possible to extract? For sure! And probably economically viable in a new energy era following an age of cheap and easy oil.
This is interesting for those countries, such as Japan, which rely on imported oil and natural gas for their energy security. It is also interesting for those countries, such as Norway, which enjoy the geographic proximity and have the competitive, state-of-the-art technological edge to exploit these resources. We are already producing and exporting oil and natural gas from our part of the Arctic. And we are exploring for more. The Japanese company Idemitsu has been awarded interests in licences in the area.
We have adopted an integrated management plan for our northern-most offshore areas. It takes a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to the development of petroleum resources based on co-existence with other interests at sea, such as fisheries and transport. Norway subscribes to the highest health, safety and environmental standards and our management plan takes especially vulnerable areas and total activity impact into consideration.
We are closely following petroleum developments in the Russian Arctic as well, where our state company Statoil is in partnership with Russian GAZPROM and French Total in developing the enormous Shtokman gas field, which recently again has been postponed some more.
Environment conscious exporter of energy
Japan is an environment-conscious energy-importing country. Norway is an environment- conscious energy-exporting one. To put our Arctic petroleum potential in perspective, let me pause to add a word about Norway’s position on the global energy scene even today as a reliable supplier of oil and natural gas to the energy security of our trading partners.
Norway is exporting ten times more energy than we use ourselves. 95% per cent of our electricity demand is generated by environment-friendly hydro-power. Norway is the fifth largest exporter of oil in the world and second largest exporter of natural gas. We supply close to 20% of the European Union’s gas demand. Second only to Russia as the EU’s largest supplier. Within the next decade our natural gas exports are expected to increase to some 125-140 billion cubic metres a year, equalling the present level of Russian exports of natural gas to Europe.
The petroleum sector now accounts for a quarter of Norway’s GDP, half of our total exports and a third of total government income. We have established an Oil Fund, “the Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global”, now the second largest sovereign wealth fund in the world with assets of around 40 trillion Yen (USD 450 billion). The Fund owns 1% of all global stocks. It is the biggest investor in Europe. 60% of the Fund is invested in stocks, the rest in fixed income investments guided by ethical criteria. All of this invested abroad to shield our domestic non-oil economy. 6% of the Fund is invested in Japan. The objective of the Fund is to serve as a mechanism to smooth out the spending of volatile income from petroleum exports and to help meet future pension demands of our aging population.
New sea transport routes
The melting of Arctic ice unleashes not only new potential for petroleum activity. It also opens new routes for maritime transport that will establish new commercial relationships. The Northeast and Northwest passages dramatically cut distances for transport by sea. The Northeast Passage brings Norway and Japan closer, shortening substantially your sailing routes to and from Europe. The distance from Yokohama to Rotterdam through the Suez Canal is 20 500 km. By the northern route it is 40% less, only 12 000 km.
All this will not happen over-night. Substantial commercial traffic means putting new infrastructure and more robust ships in place. It means a substantial upgrading not least with regard to search and rescue and environment protection. Above all it means international co-operation.
Not surprising then that the Arctic is receiving increasing attention also in North East Asia. Japan, China and South Korea want to take active part in the Arctic Council and in Arctic developments related to research, energy and shipping. We see, for example, reports in the media on how China is paying increasing attention to the economic and strategic implications of melting Arctic ice.
Norway centre-stage
Norway is centre-stage in these developments as an Arctic Ocean coastal state with longstanding experience and tradition. Norway is responsible for managing vast areas in the Arctic. A responsibility that we take very seriously in light not only of our great fishing and petroleum interests, but also in light of our alert awareness of concerns related to the environment and ecological balance in the area.
When re-elected last year, the Norwegian Government reconfirmed the High North as its most important area of strategic focus in the years ahead, on land and on our offshore continental shelf. Safeguarding Norwegian economic, environmental and security policy interests by means of a coherent policy that integrates the three. Our policy is one of dialogue with the states that have interests in the region. It is a policy of strengthening institutionalized multilateral co-operation, such as that we have in the Arctic Council. Our policy underscores the importance of intensified co-operation with Russia and continued efforts to reach an agreement on the outstanding maritime delimitation issues.
Consultations between Norway and Russia to this end continue, while the development of petroleum fields such as the Norwegian “Snow White” and the Russian “Shtokman” fields on undisputed parts of our respective continental shelves progress and while a temporary bilateral agreement on fisheries is in place for parts of the area.
Both Norway and Russia have rights and responsibilities in managing resources in the European High North. Our cross border and people-to-people contacts and co-operation with Russia in the North are being expanded to mutual benefit. We attach political importance to the regional Barents identity that we share with Russia, Finland and Sweden,
It is especially pertinent to mention this here, because Russia’s President Medvedjev is arriving in Oslo on official visit today. An excellent opportunity to review the broad scope of our bilateral relations.
Norway’s strategy for the High North and Arctic has thus both domestic and foreign policy dimensions. It addresses environment, resources and people – sustainable development in its broadest sense. Norwegian presence, activity and knowledge are key. As are long-term perspective and predictability.
Orderly development
We recall how the planting of Russia’s flag on the seabed of the North Pole three years ago received great media attention. There was some exaggerated speculation of an alleged race for the Arctic and scramble for its resources on more or less a “first come first serve” basis with an inevitable clash of national interests in a “no-man’s land” outside the reach of international agreements.
Rather than anticipating a modern day Klondike and free-for-all-scenario with legal disputes and increased military activity to extend or protect national interests, it is important to note that all land in the Arctic already belongs to established nation states. These states have the same rights and responsibilities there as states have elsewhere in accordance with international law.
It is equally important to note that the area surrounding the North Pole is not land. Under the ice is sea. We already have a robust international legal regime governing the sea here as well. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is at the core of this regime that combines global, regional and sub-regional agreements. It stipulates that a coastal state has sovereign rights on its continental shelf, including the exclusive right to explore for and exploit its natural resources. The outer limit of the continental shelf is determined by criteria set out in the Convention. If the shelf stretches further out seawards than 200 nautical miles from its coastline, the coastal state has to submit information demonstrating this to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Norway and Russia have submitted such documentation claiming areas beyond 200 nautical miles. Canada has until 2013 and Denmark until 2014, while the USA has yet to accede to UNCLOS.
The special Commission accepted last year Norway’s claim that our shelf stretches northwards to around the 85th parallel. 550 kilometers from the North Pole. The distance from Tokyo to Osaka by the Skinkansen or to Aomori by air. The acceptance of our claim beyond 200 nautical miles has extended Norway’s continental shelf, and responsibility for resource management, by an area 60% the size of Japan.
Norway is not laying claim to the North Pole. Russia is, and others may do so. But what some people feared would be a wild and confrontational scramble for resources is not happening. Arctic coastal states submitting information and claims in accordance with established international law.
The UNCLOS is the single most important instrument to promote the clarity and predictability necessary for energy security, responsible management of living and non-living resources as well as for environmental protection. It provides a solid foundation for continued development of the international governance framework for the region.
“The Arctic Five”
Ministers of the five Arctic Ocean coastal states – Norway, Russia, the USA, Canada and Denmark because of Greenland – adopted at a meeting in Greenland in May 2008 the Ilulissat Declaration, which reconfirms their commitment to the extensive international legal framework that applies to the Arctic Ocean. They further committed to the orderly settlement of any possible overlapping claims. They agreed that the existing international framework is a solid foundation for responsible management by the five coastal states themselves and other users through national implementation and application of relevant provisions. They see no need to develop a new comprehensive international legal regime especially to govern the Arctic. The “Arctic Five” surrounding the Arctic Ocean have internationally recognised sovereignty over land and, as a consequence, jurisdiction over maritime zones. They are aware of their international rights and responsibilities, there as elsewhere.
The Foreign Ministers of the “Arctic Five” met again only a month ago in Canada to discuss issues related to their specific responsibilities as Arctic Ocean coastal states. It is useful and natural for them to do so. Continuing their dialogue on the basis of the Ilulissat Declaration, they review progress towards determining the outer limits of their continental shelves and exchange views on responsible management of resources in the areas under their national jurisdiction. Emergency preparedness, rescue operations and scientific co-operation are other important issues on the agenda.
Let me underscore that this dialogue among the five Arctic Ocean coastal states – the A5 -does not replace or contradict the wider co-operation in the Arctic Council, which we want to see strengthened as the international arena for discussions of Arctic issues.
The Arctic Council
Norway attaches great importance to circumpolar co-operation in the Arctic Council, which includes as members these “Arctic Five”, Iceland, Finland and Sweden as well as Arctic indigenous communities.
Let me say a few more words about the Arctic Council, which Norway actively chaired the last three years. Not least in light of Japan’s interest in joining the Council as permanent observer. And Japan is not alone in wanting to do so. China, South Korea and the EU Commission also want such status.
The increasing international interest in Arctic developments was evident when Norway hosted the biennial Arctic Council meeting of Ministers in April last year. Ministers discussed climate change issues, resource management, transport, guidelines for petroleum activity and issues pertaining to indigenous peoples as well as search and rescue operations in the Arctic. The Arctic Council will meet again at Ministers’ level next year.
Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre characterizes the Arctic Council as “the obvious institution through which to shape more of the policy that we need for the Arctic area”. It is a policy-shaping, not decision-making organisation.
The day before the Arctic Ministerial last year, Foreign Minister Støre and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Al Gore hosted an international conference on the melting of ice. They set up a special task force to update scientific data in light of the polar ice-cap melting faster than previously feared and presented jointly the findings of the special task force to the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December last year.
Norway, on her part, would like to see Japan as a permanent observer in the Arctic Council. We want to co-operate even more closely with Japan as you take active part in Arctic developments related to research, energy and shipping, not least because of what you can offer and share in terms of Arctic and Antarctic research competence and activity. Norway’s Senior Official on Polar Affairs and for the Arctic Council paid a special visit to Japan last year to brief your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant Japanese research institutes after the Ministerial meeting of Council.
Meeting the Arctic Challenge
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me conclude by recalling that in the days of the Cold War, the Arctic was an area of tension. It still poses security challenges. But the challenges will increasingly relate to environmental and economic issues, such as development of energy resources, management of living marine resources, sea routes and climate change. The Arctic is receiving renewed strategic and geo-political attention. Not least as nations increasingly see the need not only to combat and mitigate climate change, but also to adapt to it.
Increasing utilisation of the Arctic’s rich endowment of valuable natural resources, pollution and climate change present a web of challenges that governments, industry and other stakeholders must deal with in a way that ensures sustainable development. The need for more and co-ordinated international research is key.
We are happy to see Japan as one of thirteen nations with permanent research bases in our Arctic archipelago Svalbard – half way between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole. Let me also mention that our Embassy last year hosted the First Norway – Japan Workshop on Arctic Space Research with Sounding Rockets. The co-operation between the Norwegian Space Centre and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in launching sounding rockets from the Norwegian Arctic helps us learn more about atmospheric conditions influencing global climate change.
And just last month, fourteen Japanese experts, including Professor Yamanouchi and others here today, were in Norway to participate in the Norway-Japan Joint Workshop on Arctic Climate and Global Warming that was successfully organized by the Norwegian Polar Research Institute.
Norway and Japan have a bilateral government commission and vibrant co-operation on science and technology that cover target areas where we both are good and where we can be even better when we pool resources. These target areas are energy and environment, seafood safety and nanotechnology. Polar research was last year added as another target area, supported actively by the Research Council of Norway and the Japan Science and Technology Agency.
Norway and Japan are Polar Veterans both in the North and South. The wider economic, environmental and political implications of Arctic developments, and the interrelationship among these, are receiving increasing attention in the bilateral relations between our two governments. Our scientific communities are stepping up their co-operation.
And let me end my remarks by assuring you that Norway’s Embassy in Japan has the priority objective of doing what we can to fuel the polar passion that Norwegians and Japanese share, as I am sure also our joint Polar Seminar today will do.