Beside profound environmental effects, thinner ice means more shipping through the Arctic, and with that comes more problems than Canada may not be ready to deal with.
Even with the Panama Canal serving as a link from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans, an Arctic route would still shave roughly 4000 km off current shipping routes from Europe to Asia. That means that as the Arctic ice rapidly disappears we could see an explosion of nautical traffic through the very sensitive Arctic ecology. In addition to species like the polar bear, which is facing extinction as its habitat melts away, other Arctic species could also be challenged by foreign species introduced by passing boat traffic and increased pollution.
Added to that, a more passable Arctic means that oil reserves in the far north—-which, by some estimates, account for as much as a quarter of the world's remaining oil supply—-could be opened for business.
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/6-3-9/39085.html
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on March 10, 2006]
Note: http://english.epochtim...
Canada Struggles To Stake Claim To Arctic Waters
Posted on Friday, March 10 at 08:46 by jensonjContributed By
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When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp
More seriously, as soon as Canada gets this border issue of the part of the Beaufort Sea (the triangle directly north of the Alaska / Yukon border) into arbitration or at the International Court of Justice, the sooner this will be solved. That strip of sea adjacent to the coast is the most important one, because it is a direct transportation route. Just like the area of the Straits of Georgia west of Tsawassan BC, where BC Ferries run through all the time on the way to Schwartz Bay. I guess they get permission to do cross through US Waters/Washington State/Whatcom County.