News / Europe
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May 29, 2008
Indigenous Peoples Shut Out of Meeting Dividing Up the Arctic
On May 28, the United States, Russia, Norway, Denmark, and Canada met behind closed doors to work out an agreement for dividing up rights to the resource rich polar region. The area has been the scene of mounting international conflict, starting last year when a Russian submarine planted the Russian flag on the ocean floor and escalating when Canada announced a plan to build a military base in the region to defend its national interest. Last week's meeting held in Greenland affirmed the group's intention to abide by the provisions of the 1982 Law of the Sea treaty which divides land rights according to undersea continental shelves. This agreement drew widespread criticism from those left out of the meeting, including the Inuit Peoples who comprise a majority of the Arctic's population, the environmental community, and three other Arctic nations: Sweden, Iceland and Finland. Critics are also quick to point out that the United States was included in the secret meeting, even though the US never ratified the Law of the Sea treaty. "It's clear what's going on. They are going to use law of the sea to carve up raw materials, but they are ignoring the law of common sense. These are the same fossil fuels that are driving climate change in the first place," Greenpeace spokesperson Mike Townsley told Britain's Guardian newspaper.
Link:
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/29/fossilfuels.poles
March 3, 2008
Sami Reindeer Herders Face Catastrophe
Barren range lands in the south and deeper than usual snows in the north of Sweden has blocked access to the winter pasturelands used by the Sami herds, creating a crisis not seen since 1936. Facing the death of their reindeer, the Sami have applied to the Swedish government for disaster aid, but the aid has been slow to arrive according to angry herders.
Link:
• http://www.thelocal.se/9886/
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