Arctic Winter College 2021 - Policy Briefs #2 - Marine and Maritime Issues 1

THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT OF THE ARCTIC With the continued loss of sea ice, the Arctic is becoming more accessible, allowing states to access the abundance of natural resources in the region. [...] In the case of naval mines, the likelihood of their proliferation in the Arctic is directly related to two characteristics of naval mines: their intrinsically furtive underwater nature and the lack of specific international laws concerning naval mines, including the vagueness surrounding their place within the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).19 Naval mines are an inherent. [...] A CHANGING ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT The Arctic is warming at more than twice the global rate and is, along with the sub-Arctic, expected to warm the most in response to anthropogenic increases of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.28 This increased warming is adversely impacting the Arctic sea ice extent and results, based on the increased melting of ice sheets and sea ice, in a lower albedo effect warm. [...] It established a legal order of the seas to facilitate international communication and promote the peaceful use of the oceans, the equitable utilization of its resources, the conservation of the living resources, and the protection of the marine environment.42 7 However, UNCLOS does not refer to Indigenous rights specifically apart from a provision on archipelagic waters, which refers to the state. [...] Effects vary between species and depend on the hearing of the animal, the distance to the source, the loudness of the signal, and the frequency of the cetacean’s communication.70 Northern bottlenose whales, for example, have strongly responded to controlled experiments with naval sonar exposure by showing avoidance and a change in dive behavior.