Pan Arctic Forum

France is urging the European Union to seize influence on the Arctic Council, the organization that brings together the eight nations with sovereign territory in the resource-rich Arctic region.

By M.E. Synon

Breitbart.com

However, Russia, which along with the United States and Canada dominates the council, is unlikely to tolerate any attempt by France or the EU to extend their bureaucratic reach over joint projects by the eight.

Earlier this month the French Senate reviewed a report outlining the stakes for France if it can gain influence in the Arctic, and indicating how France can spearhead an EU effort to gain control inside the Arctic Circle.

By Mark E. Rosen and Patricio Asfura-Heim

The Hoover Institute – Arctic Security Initiative

The Arctic is undergoing an extraordinary transformation that is likely to result in various types of increased human activity in the Arctic marine environment for a much greater portion of the year. Much of that increased human activity will be taking place either offshore in the form of oil and gas drilling or, in the littoral areas, in the form of shipping traffic to specific destinations (especially oil and gas sites and mines) and the potential for transit shipping from Asia to Europe.

Lawrence Susskind talks about the unprecedented policy issues emerging in the Arctic as melting sea ice opens up new opportunities for deep-sea mining and drilling.

By Genevieve Wanucha

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Our planet’s crown of Arctic sea ice may disappear for entire summers by midcentury as the North Pole warms, opening up brand-new opportunities to mine rich stores of oil, gas, and coveted mineral deposits, including rare earth metals used in cell phones. The emerging situation is unprecedented: There are legal and policy questions about how conflicts over national boundaries, concerns about environmental damage, and threats to the well-being of indigenous peoples will be handled.

By The Arctic Institute

The Arctic Institute is pleased to announce its collaboration with the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association in relation to the upcoming Arctic Business 2014 Conference in Bodø, Norway, on 8-10 October 2014.

The agreed partnership includes providing detailed information on current and projected developments in and surrounding the Arctic, as well as assistance with the conference’s Executive workshops.

A warming Arctic may change the weather for hundreds of millions of people

By Gerard Wynn

Responding to Climate Change

Rapid warming of the Arctic may be linked with recent extreme weather in Europe and the United States, a paper found this week, finding more evidence for one piece in the jigsaw.

The impact of a warming Arctic on world weather is one of the hottest topics in meteorology.

The debate has spun out of observations that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the northern hemisphere, because of a combination of rising greenhouse gas emissions and melting sea ice.