The inuit population

You have just heard a traditional Inuit song, coming directly from the Arctic Circle.

For a century the question of belonging to the Arctic had not arisen because it was invaded by ice. Today, therefore, it is more than one million square kilometers which is not legally attributed. In recent years, global warming has led to a sharp melting of the ice at the North Pole. This allows for new access to many maritime routes and new oil resources. According to calculations by the United States Geological Survey, the Arctic shelf could hide more than a quarter of the world's oil and gas reserves that have yet to be discovered.

These climate changes attract all international lusts. Changes in relations between countries with access to the Arctic and a new distribution of borders and continental shelf should therefore be expected.

There is a direct interest in the Arctic Circle. Indeed, there are 8 contenders who wish to have an Arctic territory: The United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Finland.

These eight countries are part of the Arctic Council, which also includes representatives of the indigenous peoples of the region. This council is one of the most important intergovernmental organizations in the region and has become a decision-making body with a secretariat and a permanent budget. It was formed in 1996 and focuses on sustainable development and environmental protection in the region.

There are two million people around the Arctic ice floes. Indeed, men, plants and animals still live on these lands despite the harsh climate. These people live permanently beyond the polar circle, where human presence goes back to prehistory.

These peoples live in a territory with fuzzy belonging, and they can not enjoy the riches of their own land ! This is what Lynge, a Greenlandic politician who is the head of the Inuit Circumpolar Council explained in this extract. He claims that the Inuits have the right to exploit and export the natural resources of their place of life, like any other people on Earth.

But the natural resources, the military and maritime stakes pass before the social concerns of the polar peoples for the great powers and companies of the sector of the energy.

In my view, the solution that could put an end to the ongoing conflicts in the Arctic is cooperation. The region is not historically the subject of multilateral cooperation, but it would be possible in the future to establish a form of cooperation in this region of the world.

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