Geopolitics plays big part in this year's Arctic Frontiers conference

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Geopolitics plays big part in this year's Arctic Frontiers conference

Published: 13 Feb. 2023, 20:00 Updated: 15 Feb. 2023, 00:51

Anniken Huitfeldt, Norway's minister of foreign affairs, speaks during a plenary Big Picture session on Jan. 31 at the annual Arctic Frontiers conference held in Tromso, Norway. [DAVID JENSEN/ARCTIC FRONTIERS]

TROMSO, Norway — At the forefront of the global climate war lies the Arctic, battling fast-rising temperatures and melting sea ice.

Yet the heat that the so-called high north is feeling now is not only from global warming, but also from the heat of an actual war raging far below its coastline.

“Russia is inflicting unspeakable suffering in Ukraine, and, as this audience knows far too well, the war has a profound impact also here in the north, and for the dialogue arenas in the Arctic,” said Norway Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt, during a plenary Big Picture session on Jan. 31 at the annual Arctic Frontiers conference held in Tromso, Norway.

“However, we cannot change geography — Russia is Norway's neighbor,” stressed Huitflfeldt.

“Normal political cooperation with the current Russian regime is not possible, […] but we must make sure that the Arctic does not become the only region in the world with no effective multilateral cooperation.”

Feeling the heat

By the end of the polar night period every year, policymakers, diplomats, scientists and business leaders gather in Tromso, a coastal city in the North of Norway, to attend the annual Arctic Frontiers conference.

This year's Arctic Frontiers ran from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, under the theme "Moving North."

One of the biggest buzzwords during the event this year was geopolitics, as Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on with no sign of a ceasefire in sight.

Eight Arctic nations — Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Norway, Russia, the United States, Finland, Iceland and Sweden — represent the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum that decides on policies at large in the polar region.

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Russia, which has been holding the two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council since 2021, accounts for 53 percent of the Arctic Ocean coastline.

This means that the country plays a key part in international cooperation in the Arctic region, in terms of scientific research, industrial collaboration and national security.

Yet almost all of the joint projects with the Russian government and institutions have been put on hold since the country invaded Ukraine in February last year.

“For us to be able to talk about the Arctic region as a ‘low tension in the high north,’ [it is fundamental] that it is based on international law that we can trust,” said Icelandic Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir on Jan. 31 during the plenary session, addressing the standstill with Russia and its consequences on the European nations.

“Values don't heat our houses and values don't pay the bills, but now those values are being attacked. […] If we fail, we will have more houses to heat and more bills to pay,” emphasized Gylfadottir.

The seven Arctic Council member states boycotted collaboration with Russia in March, and though the cooperation has been resumed on a limited scale since June, the long-term intergovernmental-level collaboration is still on hold for the most part.

Therefore, for Norway, which will be taking over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council in May, the biggest challenge would be to resume the work of the council on the changed political landscape.

The discontinuity in the international collaboration within a country that takes over half of the Arctic coastline is taking a toll on the scientific community as well, with “a big piece missing” in the whole picture.

“I’m in the leadership of a big national project, the Nansen Legacy, in which the access to new data has been restricted in the Russian sector of the Barents Sea,” said Tor Eldevik, a climate scientist and head of the department of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Bergen, Norway.

Eldevik further explained that “there’s the international effort of the Synoptic Arctic Survey in which Korea is also a partner, and, of course, Russia has the biggest coastline in the Arctic, so if you take out that information, it is a big piece missing.”

But Eldevik stressed that, given the gravity of the situation in Ukraine, “this is not the time to say that research collaboration with professional institutions should have an exception.”

Since the 1980s, international collaboration in the Arctic used to be defined by the concept of Arctic exceptionalism, under which the Arctic is deemed a neutral ground for cooperation, immune to geopolitical disputes to some extent.

Though tensions have already been building up in the region with Russia’s constant attempt to enhance its military presence, the war in Ukraine changed everything.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made a significant impact, as it was a direct threat to the rule-based international order,” Hong Young-ki, Korea’s ambassador for polar affairs, told the Korea JoongAng Daily on Jan. 31.

Hong explained that “though the issue of climate change should be addressed as one of the biggest priorities here, the geopolitical discussions came to the front after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.”

Growing significance of the Arctic

What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic.

The Arctic region has been getting warmer four times faster than the rest of the world since 1979, according to a recent study by Norwegian and Finnish researchers. While 2022 was the sixth warmest year on record in the Arctic, the last seven years have been the seven warmest years recorded in the region.

Though matters in the region of permafrost and sea ice seem far removed from the rest of the world, the rapid warming of the Arctic affects the whole planet.

“This region acts as one of the planet’s two air conditioning units,” said David Shukman, a former BBC science editor and visiting professor at the Grantham Research Institute, during the plenary session on Jan. 31.

“And, frankly, we’re kicking it pretty hard so that it might break and just vanish.”

The Arctic plays a crucial role in cooling the planet by reflecting the sunlight off of the sea ice. Thus, the disappearing sea ice is driving a series of extreme weather events, even in mid-latitude countries like Korea.

“More than ever, the wider world needs to understand the significance of this region and really why it matters,” said Shukman.

Meanwhile, another major dilemma that the Arctic is currently facing is the possible conflict between the region’s sustainability agenda and other economic initiatives.

The Arctic is estimated to contain a significant amount of petroleum and mineral resources. The recent melting of ice also opened new business opportunities for the shipping and shipbuilding industries as well.

“The Arctic is not a museum,” said Huitfeldt.

About 4 million people call the Arctic home, meaning that the region needs infrastructure, logistics and job opportunities to maintain the community.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, center, speaks during a plenary session on Feb. 1 in Tromso, Norway. [DAVID JENSEN/ARCTIC FRONTIERS][DAVID JENSEN/ARCTIC FRONTIERS]

“Sustainable economic development and job and educational opportunities will be vital from a foreign policy perspective,” said Huitfeldt, “but it's also vital that we maintain our focus on the green transition.”

“We need more electricity, we need more grid, and we need more energy efficiency," said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store during a Feb. 1 session on measures to attract human resources in the Arctic region, with an emphasis on the green energy transition.

“It will require investment, it will require cooperation, it will require adjustment to local communities who may be affected by it,” the prime minister said.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]