This article explores how adopting a combined ecosystem and justice approach to deep-sea mining (DSM)-particularly in vulnerable regions like the Arctic-would constitute a paradigm shift in ocean environmental law and governance. Such a shift would move ocean governance beyond fragmented, technocratic, and resource-driven frameworks toward an integrated, equitable, and sustainability-centered regime grounded in ecological integrity, social justice, and respect for human rights and local traditions.
The idea for this project originated within the Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group, where a concern was raised about the disposal of tailings from onshore mining operations onto the seafloor. This led to a broader reflection on the impacts of mining operations on the marine environment. Many Arctic governments support the development of a mineral extraction industry, provided it operates in an environmentally responsible manner and considers socio-economic impacts to local communities. However, the environmental impact of existing and future mining operations is often debated. This report summarizes the results of the multi-year Existing Waste Management Practices and Pollution Control for Marine and Coastal Mining project, developed under the auspices of the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group.
Melting Arctic sea ice, shore ice, and permafrost are changing costs and benefits to transport routes between Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and more generally, for maritime economic activity in the Arctic. We investigate the potential for development of Arctic ports from a logistics (demand) and an infrastructural (supply) point of view that directly incorporates local concerns. This approach broadens the scope of the discussion from existing analyses that focus primarily on the ways in which global forces, exerted through resource extraction or trans-polar shipping, impact the Arctic.
The sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk significantly in the last decades. The transport pattern has as a result partly changed with more traffic in remote areas. This change may influence on the risk pattern. The critical factors are harsh weather, ice conditions, remoteness and vulnerability of nature. In this paper, we look into the risk of accidents in Atlantic Arctic based on previous ship accidents and the changes in maritime activity. The risk has to be assessed to ensure a proper level of emergency response. The consequences of incidents depend on the incident type, scale and location. As accidents are rare, there are limited statistics available for Arctic maritime accidents. Hence, this study offers a qualitative analysis and an expert-based risk assessment. Implications for the emergency preparedness system of the Arctic region are discussed.
This report forms part of the ambitious CBS Maritime research initiative entitled “Competitive Challenges and Strategic Development Potential in Global Maritime Industries” which was launched with the generous support of the Danish Maritime Fund. The competitiveness initiative targets specific maritime industries (including shipping, offshore energy, ports, and maritime service and equipment suppliers) as well as addresses topics that cut across maritime industries (regulation and competitiveness). The topics and narrower research questions addressed in the initiative were developed in close dialogue between CBS Maritime and the maritime industries in Denmark. CBS Maritime is a Business in Society (BiS) Platform at Copenhagen Business School committed to the big question of how to achieve economic and social progress in the maritime industries. CBS Maritime aims to strengthen a maritime focus at CBS and create the foundation for CBS as a stronger partner for the maritime industries, as well as for other universities and business school with a devotion to maritime economics research. The competitiveness initiative comprises a number of PhD projects and five short term mapping projects, the latter aiming at developing key concepts and building up a basic industry knowledge base for further development of CBS Maritime research and teaching. This report attempts to map the opportunities and challenges for the maritime industry in an increasingly accessible Arctic Ocean
The existence of a sense of common or community interests is a prerequisite to establishing an order in a society, national or international. In this connection, it is notable that the protection of community interests is increasingly important in international law and the law of the sea is no exception. The increasing need for protecting community interests necessitates a new paradigm in the law of the sea. The legal issues regarding the marine Arctic should also be considered in the context of changing paradigms in the law of the sea. Thus this article seeks to overview principal issues of the international law governing the marine Arctic from the viewpoints of a dual paradigm, that is, the law of divided oceans (paradigm I) and the law of our common ocean (paradigm II).
The impact of climate change in the Arctic Ocean such as ice melting and ice retreat facilitates natural resources extraction. Arctic fossil fuel becomes the drivers of geopolitical changes in the Arctic Ocean. Climate change facilitates natural resource extractions and increases competition between states and can result in tensions, even military ones. This article investigates through a political and legal analysis the role of China as an emerging regulatory sea power in the Arctic Ocean given its assertive “energy hungry country behaviour” in the Arctic Ocean. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Arctic Council (AC) are taken into consideration under climate change effects, to assess how global legal frameworks and institutions can deal with China’s strategy in the Arctic Ocean. China’s is moving away from its role as “humble power” to one of “informal imperialistic” resulting in substantial impact on the Arctic and Antartic dynamism. Due to ice-melting, an easy access to natural resources, China’s Arctic strategy in the Arctic Ocean has reinforced its military martitime strategy and has profoundly changed its maritime military doctrine shifting from regional to global in the context of UNCLOS. In particular, it is wondered, what China understands about the public order dimension of UNCLOS. The article concludes that despite China’ assertive behaviour towards the Arctic environmental ocean and its rise as global sea power, for the time being, China cannot be considered as a variable for Arctic security as there are no sufficient legal and policy objective elements to adduct that it constitutes a threat to Artic ocean security.
This paper presents a detailed BC, NOx and SO2 emission inventory for ships in the Arctic in 2012 based on satellite AIS data, ship engine power functions and technology stratified emission factors. Emission projections are presented for the years 2020, 2030 and 2050. Furthermore, the BC, SO2 and O3 concentrations and the deposition of BC are calculated for 2012 and for two arctic shipping scenarios – with or without arctic diversion routes due to a possible polar sea ice extent in the future.
In 2012, the largest shares of Arctic ships emissions are calculated for fishing ships (45% for BC, 38% for NOx, 23% for SO2) followed by passenger ships (20%, 17%, 25%), tankers (9%, 13%, 15%), general cargo (8%, 11%, 12%) and container ships (5%, 7%, 8%). In 2050, without arctic diversion routes, the total emissions of BC, NOx and SO2 are expected to change by +16%, −32% and −63%, respectively, compared to 2012. The results for fishing ships are the least certain, caused by a less precise engine power – sailing speed relation.
The calculated BC, SO2, and O3 surface concentrations and BC deposition contributions from ships are low as a mean for the whole Arctic in 2012, but locally BC additional contributions reach up to 20% around Iceland, and high additional contributions (100–300%) are calculated in some sea areas for SO2. In 2050, the arctic diversion routes highly influence the calculated surface concentrations and the deposition of BC in the Arctic. During summertime navigation contributions become very visible for BC (>80%) and SO2 (>1000%) along the arctic diversion routes, while the O3 (>10%) and BC deposition (>5%) additional contributions, respectively, get highest over the ocean east of Greenland and in the High Arctic.
The geospatial ship type specific emission results presented in this paper have increased the accuracy of the emission inventories for ships in the Arctic. The methodology can be used to estimate shipping emissions in other regions of the world, and hence may serve as an input for other researchers and policy makers working in this field.
The accelerated melting of the Arctic ice leads to the navigation of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) linking Asia and Europe, shortening transport channel between China and the European Union (EU). This has a significant impact on the China-EU bilateral trade which is analyzed in the present study. We present a framework based on a general equilibrium model for analyzing the impact of the NSR on the trade and the economies of China and the EU. Different fuel cost scenarios, consisting of fuel prices and sailing speeds on ice, are also considered. Specifically, we measure the changes in shipping costs between China and the EU, brought about by NSR navigation. These are used as a basis to quantify changes in transport technology. The Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model is used to predict the trade and economic impacts. The results show that the NSR can save 0.98% in shipping costs and generate an increase in the exports of China and the EU in the order of 14,986 and 8,228 million US dollars, respectively. Among these exports, the mining industry shows the fastest growth, while the electronics industry experiences the largest increase in trade volume. Our findings reveal the potential of the NSR as an alternative route and its positive impact on bilateral trade between China and the EU. The results can provide a basis for shipping companies and governments to make decisions regarding the use of Arctic routes.
The sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk significantly in the last decades. Partly as a result, the transport pattern has changed with more traffic in remote areas. This change may increase the risk of accidents. The critical factors are harsh weather, ice conditions, remoteness and vulnerability. In this paper we look into the risks of accidents in the Atlantic Arctic based on previous ship accidents and the changes in maritime activity. The risk has to be assessed to ensure a proper level of response in emergency situations. As accidents are rare, there are limited statistics available for Arctic marine accidents. Therefore, in this study a mostly qualitative analysis and expert judgement is the basis for the risk assessments. Implications for the emergency preparedness system of the region are discussed. The consequences of incidents depend on the incident type, scale and location,