Who owns north pole

According to reports from Global News , Canada is finally claiming a large area of the Arctic seabed that includes the North Pole, but two other countries have also filed claims for the same area. Although it took years of delay and "political arm-twisting", Global News confirmed that Canada officially filed ownership claims.

Russia and Denmark, however, have already filed their own claims to the same geographical area, meaning that the Canadian federal government will likely need to engage in negotiations with the two other nations to compete for ownership.

Canada's claim was submitted last week to an organization associated with the United Nations, which will determine the scientific validity of each country's proposal of where the national borders should be situated. Current international law mandates that no single country owns the North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean that surrounds it. The five adjacent countries, Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark via Greenland , and the United States, are restricted to a nautical-mile exclusive economic zone off their coasts.

Any area beyond that is administered by the International Seabed Authority. Time to update our geography text books! Global News notes that Canada's submission is considered "late", as the previous federal government rejected plans to submit a claim back in that did not include the North Pole.

Russia has dedicated a significant portion of its resources to increase its civilian and military capabilities in its north region for at least 10 years - rejuvenating its old air bases and implementing four new Arctic brigade combat teams, 14 new operational airfields, 16 deepwater ports and 40 icebreakers, plus 11 more in development.

The Russians doubled down in August Under a convention, countries can claim exclusive economic rights over areas adjacent to their shores. In , Russia used this rule to claim part of the Arctic Ocean that abutted its continental shelf. The United Nations rejected the claim, citing a lack of evidence.

In Russia said it had new data justifying its claim to , square miles of territory, including the North Pole. If its claim is accepted, Russia would not have full sovereignty over the area, but it would have economic control over the waters, which may contain oil and natural gas. As part of a three-day tour of Alaska in September , President Obama said that the US Coast Guard needed to hasten its acquisition of new icebreaker ships to catch up with rival Arctic claimant Russia.

The trip was intended to highlight the effects of climate change, but nevertheless, the White House said in a statement that the U. Timeline puts our world in context, deepening the way we understand the news.

Sign in. Who owns the Arctic? The year-old-fight over ice is fast becoming a fight over oil and water. Timeline Follow. Map of all the various claims by everyone and anyone in the North Pole area. Picture taken from a Russian submarine. Read on for explanation. Share this: Twitter Facebook. Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public.

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