The Arctic This Week August 17 - 23, 2015  Photo: Malte Humpert, Tromsø, Norway Welcome and thanks for joining us this week! We hope that you find TATW interesting and entertaining to read. If you’re not a subscriber yet, you can sign up here. As always, all editorial choices, opinions and any mistakes are the authors’ own. Anything that we missed? Please feel free to share material with us if you think it deserves inclusion in TATW. This and next week, The Arctic This Week will be a Reads of The Week only (ROTW) issue, including a few handpicked articles. The following two weeks, the TATW team will take a short summer break. THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES THE POLITICAL SCENE Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has described China as a “priority partner” in its development of the Arctic, stating that “China seems to have favorable prospects, because it has appropriate resources, technologies and scientific potential. But our Arctic should not boil down to the Arctic Council. Russia’s Arctic zone is the area where we can work together on a bilateral basis with many partners. Of course, China is one of the priority partners.” Meanwhile, Russia has announced it will attend the 30 August Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic, to be held in Anchorage, AK (UPI). ENERGY Given the recent attention to Shell’s resumption of energy exploration activities in the Arctic, several commentaries can shed further light on the broader effects of these operations. At the very least, Shell’s operations are rather ambitious and come with a number of risks (The Telegraph). Energy producers see benefit in taking these risks, however, as they foresee an increase in demand within the decade (AJ). Some are concerned that US government approval of these activities are at odds with recent government initiatives to combat climate change (FT). Others feel that this is yet another example of an over-reliance on fossil fuel extraction versus developing more sustainable energy solutions (The Guardian). Norway’s economy has been struggling as a result of the global fall in energy prices in the last year (FT). The price of oil reached its lowest point since 2009 this week, causing a further hit to the Norwegian stock market (BO). Nonetheless, there has been movement on some of the country’s energy projects. Construction of the Polarled pipeline from the Norwegian mainland to a field in the northern Norwegian Sea crossed the Arctic Circle, making it the first pipeline to do so. As is the case with many of its other operations, Statoil has had to find creative ways to cut costs for the pipeline as a result of current economic conditions (Nasdaq). Italian producer Eni has announced that it will be able to begin extraction activities in the Goliat field in the Barents Sea following a two-year delay (PGN). SCIENCE, ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE Contrary to fears that a warming Arctic could release massive amounts of methane locked in the permafrost, research findings from Princeton University recently published in theISME Journal found that bacteria related to the bacterial group Upland Soil Cluster Alpha consume methane in carbon-poor Arctic soil. Their consumption of methane increases with ground temperatures between 0 °C and 18 °C. In a warming climate, they might help regulate global methane release in areas of melting permafrost (Princeton). Last week, Parks Canada announced that they would head back to the Arctic waters, where the ships from the Franklin Expedition were discovered last year. The exploration of the HMS Erebus wreck and the ongoing search for HMSTerror will resume. The project caters to different interests, including the protection of Arctic sovereignty and the demonstration of Canada’s scientific and technological accomplishments (CBC). Although traditional Arctic peoples’ diets might seem to depend largely on meat, traditional Arctic diets actually vary greatly from region to region. These varying diets have enabled people to survive in the Arctic regions for thousands of years, providing them with all the necessary nutrients. Anna Sigrithur with the Nordic Food Lab studies the diet of the Sámi in Scandinavia. She suggests that a lot of the traditional Arctic peoples’ food require a communal effort, hence why it is becoming more and more difficult and inconvenient to live on a traditional diet (GOOD Magazine). MILITARY / SEARCH & RESCUE Russia’s Northern Fleet “has begun multiservice tactical exercises engaging over 1,000 servicemen and more than 50 pieces of hardware on the Taimyr Peninsula near Norilsk.” According to “Northern Fleet Commander Vladimir Korolyov, who is supervising the drills… ‘This practice aims to bolster security in the Russian Arctic, to ensure unhampered economic operations of our state in this region and to protect its territory and facilities from potential military threats’” (RBTH). Russia is deploying anti-aircraft SA-22 Pantsir-S1 battalions to Murmansk, according to a new report from the U.S. Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office. The Pantsir system, is widely used by the Russian military, and the systems to be used in the region have been modified to “withstand harsh arctic environments” (Washington Times). FISHERIES, SHIPPING AND OTHER BUSINESS NEWS The impact of the economic crisis and the absence of tourists from Russia, Greece, Italy, and Spain have had a substantial impact on the shrinking Finnish economy. This is especially true for companies that rely heavily on tourism, like Dianordia Oy, which offers tourists the opportunity to visit Santa Claus. The company currently struggles to pay its taxes and has been given a week to come up with a solution. The Finnish Santa Claus office is also often part of the official visit of foreign officials (Bloomberg,Sputnik). Thanks to a franchising agreement with Inrusinvest, which was announced last week, 20 McDonald’s outlets will open in Siberia in 2016. Despite being a symbol of the U.S., 85% of the outlets’ supplies will come from domestic producers (ST). By contrast, Iceland has been McDonald’s free since 2009, a year after the collapse of the Icelandic economy. However, the last hamburger of the chain, purchased on the day before McDonald’s left the country and still in good condition, can now be admired at Reykjavík’s Bus Hostel. Because the arrival of McDonald’s in Iceland was seen as a sign of “modernity, rationality and globalization”, the last hamburger is of great symbolic value, argues Kristín Loftsdóttir, professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland (Grapevine). SPORT Cyclist Rein Taaramae won the Arctic Race of Norway last week in dramatic style (sport.co.uk). The Estonian national won the northernmost professional cycle race on the event’s final stage, coming in third in the town of Narvik, some 140 miles north of the Arctic Circle. This year’s race was held on August 13-16 and marked the third edition of the four-stage event, which has been held annually since 2013. This year’s course was 449.9-miles-long and took place entirely north of the Arctic Circle, beginning in Harstad and continuing through Evenskjer, Setermoen, Senja, and Målselv before ending in Narvik. Abbreviation Key Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) Aftenbladet (AB) Alaska Business Monthly (ABM) Alaska Dispatch News (AD) Alaska Journal of Commerce (AJOC) Alaska Native News (ANN) Alaska Public Media (APM) Arctic Info (Russian) (AIR) Arctic Institute (TAI) Arctic Sounder (AS) Barents Nova (BN) Barents Observer (BO) Bristol Bay Times (BBT) BusinessWeek (BW) Canadian Mining Journal (CMJ) Christian Science Monitor (CSM) Eye on the Arctic (EOTA) Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (NM) Financial Times (FT) Globe and Mail (G&M) Government of Canada (GOC) Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) Huffington Post (HP) Indian Country Today Media Network (ICTMN) Johnson’s Russia List (JRL) Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa (KNR) Lapin Kansa (LK) Maritime Executive (MarEx) Moscow Times (MT) National Geographic (NG) Natural Gas Europe (NGE) Naval Today (NT) New York Times (NYT) Northern Journal (NORJ) Northern News Service Online (NNSO) Northern Public Affairs (NPA) Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) Nunatsiaq News (NN) Oil & Gas Journal (OGJ) Ottawa Citizen (OC) Petroleum News (PN) RIA Novosti (RIAN) Russia Beyond the Headlines (RBTH) Russia Today (RT) Voice of Russia (VOR) Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Washington Post (WP) Whitehorse Star (WS) Winnipeg Free Press (WFP) Yukon News (YN) |
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The Arctic This Week August 17 - 23, 2015
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