The Arctic Ocean and the Law of the Sea

Abstract

Taking the deliberations of the UN Sea-Bed Committee as its point of departure, this article discusses the future legal and political status of the Arctic Ocean region. Basing their argument on the strategic, ecological and political uniqueness of the area, the authors reach the conclusion that the polar seas, beyond national jurisdiction, should be placed under the joint administration and control of the five Arctic littoral powers (the US, the USSR, Canada, Denmark and Norway) for the limited purpose of preventing serious and possibly cataclysmic disturbance of the fragile ecological equilibrium of the region. It is further maintained that a solution along these lines would not necessarily run counter to the 1970 UN Declaration of Principles concerning the internationalization of the deep seabed, since an Arctic Ocean Pollution Prevention Regime might be organized as a regional extension of a universal seabed regime.