26 January 2010 - Tromsø,
Norway — Should the oil companies be allowed
to take advantage of melting ice to drill
for more oil in the warming Arctic? Should
industrial fishing fleets be allowed to
chase the last remnants of fished-out stocks
into the areas where ice has previously
stopped their ships? We say no: as should
anyone who believes you don't put out a
fire with gasoline.
The retreat of polar
sea-ice is one of our planet's emergency
warning signals that business as usual is
putting us all in hot water. Yet at the
Arctic Frontier conference in Tromsø,
Norway,governments and corporate interests
are considering measures to turn regions
of newly ice-free ocean into a bonanza for
big business.
It's not time for a
free-for-all. It's time to protect the Arctic
Ocean from additional stress to give the
ecosystem, the fish and wildlife it supports
and the people and communities who depend
on it the best chance of adaptation and
survival.
And that's why today,
among the gathered dignataries, industrial
representatives, and scientists who are
attending the meeting, we are calling for
an immediate moratorium on all industrial
activities in areas historically covered
by sea-ice.
As Mads Christensen,
Executive Director of Greenpeace Nordic
said in demanding the ban: "We are
at a crossroads, the path we take is an
intelligence test: do we drill and burn
the fossil fuels reserves that are accessible
only because climate change is causing the
sea ice to melt? Or do we protect the Arctic
and give it and the communities living there
a chance to adapt to the already serious
changes taking place?"
It's a bold demand.
But someone has to speak for the global
commons, and for the wildlife and nature
which has no voice at the table.
Human Damage
As the Arctic Ocean melts, more areas that
were historically blocked by ice are opening
every year. Oil companies from around the
world are scrambling to obtain permits to
drill for oil in the Arctic sea floor. These
companies are often coming from Arctic Coastal
States like the United States and Norway.
The Arctic region has
shown in the past to be extremely vulnerable
to oil spills - more than 20 years after
the Exxon Valdez oil spill, oil from that
disaster can still be found in Prince William
Sound.
Knowing this, it seems
incredible that permits for oil and gas
drilling should even be considered. Yet
considered and granted they have been, most
recently in the Chuchki Sea, north of the
Bering Strait. Damage from a spill would
be extremely hard to clean-up, and would
threaten the already stressed Arctic fauna
and flora.
Ironically, the possibility
of drilling for oil would not even exist
were it not for climate change and the human
addiction to burning fossil fuels. Climate
Change is already having clear impacts in
the Arctic, in particular on the glaciers
in Greenland as well as on the extent of
sea-ice.
Greenpeace hosted scientists
last summer on board the Arctic Sunrise
to study the extent of the damage. The preliminary
results of their research will be presented
at the Arctic Frontiers conference, in the
scientific part of the programme.
Some of the stunning
photos made during the trip will also be
presented, to remind the delegates of what
is at stake.
Sea ice underpins the
Arctic Ocean ecosystem, it’s hard to imagine
the range and severity of impacts that will
occur as the ice continues to shrink, thin
and disappear year round, but we do know
there will be a big impact on ice-dependent
species such as polar bears, walrus, ice
seals and whales - It is very unlikely that
these species could adapt to life on land
in the absence of summer sea ice. In turn,
the communities which depend on them for
subsistence will be severely stressed.
Ocean Acidification
But retreating ice is
not the only threat which the Arctic faces.
As carbon dioxide from the burning of oil
and gas goes into the atmosphere, concentrations
of carbon dioxide in the ocean go up as
well, making it more acidic. Carbon dioxide
dissolves in cold water faster than it does
in warm. But that storage comes with a price.
The ocean's pH value has dropped nearly
30 percent over the past 250 years to levels
not seen in 800,000 years. The prediction
is that within 50 years at most the acidity
of the ocean will reach a point where it
will affect the production of shells in
plankton, with follow-on impacts that ripple
on up the food chain to affect stocks of
fish and shellfish, as well as birds and
marine mammals.
Adding to the stress
of declining sea-ice with new stresses resulting
from human industrial activity would be
madness. In the absence of a deep understanding
of the future of the Arctic ecosystem and
the vulnerability of its wildlife, the precautionary
principle demands to we keep industrial
activities out: the onus is on the oil,
fisheries, and minerals industry to prove
their activities will be sustainable --
not on the environmental community to demonstrate
likely harm.
World Park Arctic?
To whom does the Arctic Ocean belong? The
countries now claiming the sea-bed as their
own were the same who agreed with Greenpeace
in the 11000s that Antarctica should be
set aside for humanity. Now that they have
the opportunity to claim a bit of a shrinking
pie, however, all thoughts of doing the
right thing or proper stewardship of a fragile
ecosystem are being set aside.
Despite the massive
pressure of profit, however, Greenpeace
believes that it is possible to protect
this ocean from further destruction. The
marine ecosystem is going to be submitted
to incredible pressure once the sea ice
melts. It is essential that human activities
do not impose further pressure that can
be avoided.
Industries and countries
eager to move in on the Arctic Ocean may
consider it far fetched that they will be
thwarted. But we know from experience that
when millions of people draw a line in the
ice and tell industry to keep their hands
off, the impossible can happen. Antarctica
is safe from oil exploration today. We need
to protect the Arctic for tomorrow.
