Polar News & Notes: Mapmakers Hope to Ease Geopolitical Conflicts in the Arctic

Looking ahead to a time when the “freezing land and seas of the Arctic are likely to be getting hotter in terms of geopolitics,” Durham University in the United Kingdom has dawn up a map that plots boundaries, disputed claims, and potential trouble spots.

Martin Pratt of the university’s International Boundaries Research Unit says the map is the “most precise depiction yet of the limits and the future dividing lines that could be drawn across the Arctic region.” Those who might want to draw lines would represent large powerful nations as well smaller ones.

You can download the map free of charge from the IBRU web site at http://www.dur.ac.uk/ibru/resources/arctic

The map follows a series of historical and ongoing arguments about ownership. Disputes can be expected as countries search for new sources of oil, gas and minerals. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that a fifth of the world’s undiscovered, technically recoverable resources lie within the Arctic Circle.

Posted in Topics: Arctic, Current News, Polar News & Notes

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