ID :
143191
Wed, 09/22/2010 - 16:32
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/143191
The shortlink copeid
Int`l forum in Moscow to deal with Arctic development issues.
MOSCOW, September 22 (Itar-Tass) - "The Arctic is Territory for
Dialogue" is the motto under which an International Arctic Forum,
organized by the Russian Geographical Society (RGS), begins its work here
on Wednesday.
Sergei Shoigu, RGS president and Minister for Emergencies, said the
forum "will become Russia's first gihg-level international floor, to which
prominent Russian and foreign explorers of the Arctic, government
officials, and representatives of political and business circles have been
invited". They will discuss problems concerning the entire Arctic region.
Shoigu emphasized, "The forum's main subjects of discussion include
such problems as climate change and the consequences of human activities,
and issues connected with natural resources and prospects for a
sustainable development of the Arctic region." A search for ways for
international interaction and the affirmation of the Arctic as a zone of
peace and cooperation will also figure importantly.
Yuri Trutnev, Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, said
in comment on the opening of such a forum that to Russia as a northern
country the Arctic is a particularly important region. "The uniqueness of
the Arctic is in the fact that, first, this is a dialogue territory where
mankind learns to discuss global problems and reach agreement; second,
this is an area that affords huge reserves of natural resoruces, and,
third, this is territory which both stabilizes the condition of the
planet's ecosystem and is at the same time most vulnerable in this sense,"
he said.
Trutnev pointed out that the Russian sector of the Arctic alone
affords up to 100,000 million tonnes of reference fuel. According to the
US Geological Service, on the whole, the area northward of the Polar
Circle affords about one-third of the world's reserves of natural gas and
13 percent of the world's reserves of petroleum. Sixty-one large oil and
gas deposits are known there, with their reserves amounting to over 500
million barrels.
In view of this, the dispute among the so-called subpolar countries
over territories on the Arctic shelf grew keener of late. Five countries
-- Russia, Norway, Denmark, the United States, and Canada -- are engaging
in active explorations with a view to substantiating their claim to
control of the water areas and the seabed.
In order to gain the right to extend the shelf boundaries controlled
by them, a relevant state should file an application with the UN
Commission in accordance with the UN Law of the Sea Convention dated 1982.
In such an applicaiton the country in question must prove convincingly
enough from the scientific point of view that this or that area of the
shelf is a continuation of the continental platform.
Trutnev said Russia is intensively conducting such research and
intends within three years to spend about 2,000 million roubles on work
connected with the confirmation of the country's rights to the Lomonosov
underwater mountain ridge and the Mendeleyev Ridge.
The Minister said that in 2013 Russia would file a new application
with the seabed commission which had demanded additional arguments from
the Russian Federation when the latest application was being filed.
At the same time Arctic countries are determined in their striving to
keep the so-called third countries, which also evince interest in its
natural resources, away from the Arctic.
The intergovernmental Arctic Council (set up in 1996) is now the main
international organization, within the framework of which Arctic issues
are discussed.
The main tasks of the Arctic Council are to solve environmental
problems, develop cooperation, as well as give economic, cultural and
social support to the peoples of the region.
Denmark (together with Faroe Islands and Greenland), Iceland, Canada,
Norway, Russia, the US, Finland, and Sweden are permament members of the
Arctic Council. The organizations of the indigenous peoples of the North
are also represented in it.
It is expected that Prince Albert II of Monaco, and Crown Princes of
Norway and Denmark, Haakon and Frederik, respectively, will attend the
forum.
-0-pop
Dialogue" is the motto under which an International Arctic Forum,
organized by the Russian Geographical Society (RGS), begins its work here
on Wednesday.
Sergei Shoigu, RGS president and Minister for Emergencies, said the
forum "will become Russia's first gihg-level international floor, to which
prominent Russian and foreign explorers of the Arctic, government
officials, and representatives of political and business circles have been
invited". They will discuss problems concerning the entire Arctic region.
Shoigu emphasized, "The forum's main subjects of discussion include
such problems as climate change and the consequences of human activities,
and issues connected with natural resources and prospects for a
sustainable development of the Arctic region." A search for ways for
international interaction and the affirmation of the Arctic as a zone of
peace and cooperation will also figure importantly.
Yuri Trutnev, Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, said
in comment on the opening of such a forum that to Russia as a northern
country the Arctic is a particularly important region. "The uniqueness of
the Arctic is in the fact that, first, this is a dialogue territory where
mankind learns to discuss global problems and reach agreement; second,
this is an area that affords huge reserves of natural resoruces, and,
third, this is territory which both stabilizes the condition of the
planet's ecosystem and is at the same time most vulnerable in this sense,"
he said.
Trutnev pointed out that the Russian sector of the Arctic alone
affords up to 100,000 million tonnes of reference fuel. According to the
US Geological Service, on the whole, the area northward of the Polar
Circle affords about one-third of the world's reserves of natural gas and
13 percent of the world's reserves of petroleum. Sixty-one large oil and
gas deposits are known there, with their reserves amounting to over 500
million barrels.
In view of this, the dispute among the so-called subpolar countries
over territories on the Arctic shelf grew keener of late. Five countries
-- Russia, Norway, Denmark, the United States, and Canada -- are engaging
in active explorations with a view to substantiating their claim to
control of the water areas and the seabed.
In order to gain the right to extend the shelf boundaries controlled
by them, a relevant state should file an application with the UN
Commission in accordance with the UN Law of the Sea Convention dated 1982.
In such an applicaiton the country in question must prove convincingly
enough from the scientific point of view that this or that area of the
shelf is a continuation of the continental platform.
Trutnev said Russia is intensively conducting such research and
intends within three years to spend about 2,000 million roubles on work
connected with the confirmation of the country's rights to the Lomonosov
underwater mountain ridge and the Mendeleyev Ridge.
The Minister said that in 2013 Russia would file a new application
with the seabed commission which had demanded additional arguments from
the Russian Federation when the latest application was being filed.
At the same time Arctic countries are determined in their striving to
keep the so-called third countries, which also evince interest in its
natural resources, away from the Arctic.
The intergovernmental Arctic Council (set up in 1996) is now the main
international organization, within the framework of which Arctic issues
are discussed.
The main tasks of the Arctic Council are to solve environmental
problems, develop cooperation, as well as give economic, cultural and
social support to the peoples of the region.
Denmark (together with Faroe Islands and Greenland), Iceland, Canada,
Norway, Russia, the US, Finland, and Sweden are permament members of the
Arctic Council. The organizations of the indigenous peoples of the North
are also represented in it.
It is expected that Prince Albert II of Monaco, and Crown Princes of
Norway and Denmark, Haakon and Frederik, respectively, will attend the
forum.
-0-pop
