Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2022
Abstract
Above latitude 66°33’44” north of the Equator lies the Arctic Circle. The center of the Circle is water, mostly covered by ice. The smallest of the world’s five oceans, it has been paddled, sailed, and traversed over centu-ries—to access its abundant resources, to reach the magnetic north pole, to discover routes connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, to expand sci-entific knowledge, to live, to discover, and to conquer. Peoples indigenous to the Arctic have long thrived in the lands and near-shore environments that bound the ocean.
By the age of European exploration of the Arctic, the 1648 Peace of Westphalia had ushered in the nation-State system and modern international law. The mare liberum character of the oceans that Hugo Grotius proclaimed had eclipsed the mare clausum argument of John Seldon. Freedom of naviga-tion, subject to certain servitudes, was honored. From the sixteenth century onward, Arctic voyages and expeditions originating in Europe and North America increased—motivated by discovery, wealth, power, and knowledge. The British had defeated Napoleon, its navy ruled the waves, and London was tangling with Russia over Afghanistan in the Great Game. And Russia posed another threat—discovering and making a polar passage. Faced with the prospects of expansion, governments sponsored high north exploration. The scramble for the Arctic, mostly on ice, was on. This article examines the future of navigation in the Arctic by examining the projected effects of a range of climate change scenarios. We first consider the interactions between social process and climate in the Arctic, along with demands and claims to access and control. We then appraise the legal re-gimes applicable to the Arctic and associated navigational challenges. We calculate projections of Arctic marine accessibility and, using policy sciences analysis, identify future alternatives. Finally, we consider implications for the international law of the sea.
Publication Title
International Law Studies
Volume
99
Article Number
1169
First Page
491
Last Page
516
Suggested Bluebook Citation
Charles H. Norchi & Amanda H. Lynch, Arctic Navigation and Climate Change: Projections from Science for the Law of the Sea, 99 Int'l L. Stud. Ser. US Naval War Col. 491 (2022).
