– Not the first time I’ve written on this and I doubt it will be the last.
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A senior US Coast Guard commander has warned of the risk of conflict in the Arctic, unless disputes over international borders are resolved.
Speaking to the BBC during an Arctic patrol flight, Rear Adm Gene Brooks, in charge of the Coast Guard’s vast Alaska region, appealed for a diplomatic deal.
“The potential is there with undetermined boundaries and great wealth for conflict, or competition.
“There’s always a risk of conflict,” Adm Brookes said.
He added that this was especially the case “where you do not have established, delineated, agreed-upon borders”.
Russia is staking the largest claim to the Arctic, after planting a flag at the North Pole last summer, but Denmark, Norway, Canada and the United States are all involved in border disputes as well.
The admiral’s warning comes as the Arctic sea-ice has, for a second year running, retreated far more dramatically than the long-term average. The latest satellite analysis shows this year’s melt closely following last year’s record thaw.
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