The Legal Regime for the Arctic Ocean

Authors

Christopher C. Joyner, Georgetown University

Abstract

With Arctic sea ice melting at rates faster than ever before, global climate change is opening up the polar region to increased navigation, exploration, and exploitation. The 'Arctic eight" nations have ignited a new competition for control of the trade routes and access to the rich deposits of resources that governments speculate might lie beneath the ice. In this article, the author explores the framework for a legal regime in the Arctic, identifying and critically assessing the agreements that govern the space, with the express intent of relating how they legally impact on human activities in the Arctic Ocean. It addresses the legal implications that flow from rules in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention that govern offshore territorial delimitation in the region as well as the many legal regulations that affect regional fisheries, nonliving resource development, and marine environmental protection.

Recommended Citation

Joyner, Christopher C. (2009) "The Legal Regime for the Arctic Ocean," Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy: Vol. 18: Iss. 2, Article 2.
Available at: https://ir.law.fsu.edu/jtlp/vol18/iss2/2