Climate change heats up Arctic geopolitics - AFP

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Climate change heats up Arctic geopolitics

by Guillaume Lavallee
1 hour, 53 minutes ago

MONTREAL (AFP) - Global warming has the United States and
Canada scrambling to overhaul their strategies for controlling
North America's vast Arctic, as sea passage grows easier and
natural gas resources beckon.

Ice melt in Canada's Great North already allows boat traffic
in the Northwest Passage, long the definition of a difficult
route between the Atlantic and Pacific through the Arctic,
which cuts the sea travel distance between Europe and Asia
by a third.

This tortuous route however should be open almost half of the
year by around 2035. That could foster cooperation, or
turbocharge turf squabbles between Canada and the United
States, whose claim on the Arctic is its state of Alaska.

There is already a history of rivalry between the two generally
friendly neighbors over the passage.

The United States considers the passage international waters
free to navigation.

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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070427/sc_afp/canadausarcticenvironmentclimatepolitics_070427075208