Charles F. Doran, Sherri Goodman, Katherine Hardin, and Ronald LaBrec discuss climate change and the evolving arctic.
Global Commons
Arctic
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Experts discuss U.S. policy priorities for the Arctic.
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“The United States, through Alaska, is a significant Arctic nation with strategic, economic, and scientific interests,” asserts a new Council on Foreign Relations-sponsored (CFR) Independent Task Force report, Arctic Imperatives: Reinforcing U.S. Strategy on America’s Fourth Coast. With the Arctic “warming at twice the rate as the rest of the planet” and melting sea ice opening up this resource-rich region to new trade routes and commercial activities, the report stresses that “the United States needs to increase its strategic commitment to the region or risk leaving its interests unprotected.”
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The Arctic should be a major consideration in discussions of U.S. national security, says Thad Allen, co-chair of CFR’s Independent Task Force on the Arctic.
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Experts discuss challenges for U.S. national security in the Arctic region.
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The northern reaches of the planet are melting at a pace few nations can afford to ignore, yielding potentially lucrative returns in energy, minerals, and shipping. But debate is mounting over whether the Arctic can be developed sustainably and peaceably.
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The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has released a new interactive guide examining the economic opportunities and environmental risks emerging in the Arctic. Climate change, technological advances, and a growing demand for natural resources are driving a new era of development in the Arctic region. Many experts assert that Arctic summers could be free of sea ice in a matter of decades, opening the region up to hundreds of billions of dollars in investment, most notably in energy production and shipping.
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This interactive InfoGuide—which includes videos, infographics, maps, and timelines—explores whether the Arctic can be developed sustainably and peaceably. Teaching notes by Lawson Brigham, Distinguished Professor of Geography and Arctic Policy, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
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Nations are reexamining their interests and capabilities in the Arctic, as climate change in the region presents new economic opportunities and security challenges.
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As human activity intensifies in the Arctic, U.S. interests would be best represented by a reinforced Coast Guard, exercising the role it carries out in other coastal areas, writes CFR Military Fellow Peter Troedsson.