Transcript Increase Your Albedo!

Breaking the Ice: Who Owns
the Northwest Passage?
Presented by Marianne Kenney
Social Studies Instructional Specialist
Denver Public Schools
Shameless Plug
• Attended:
– 2009 Study Canada Summer Institute
• Created lesson plan “Breaking the Ice: Who
Owns the Northwest Passage?”
– 2010 Northeast Canadian Studies Summer
Institute “Quebec Dimension”
• Created lesson plan “The New Quebecers”
Turn and Talk
• Rate your knowledge…
–4
–3
–2
–1
Wizard: I should be sitting in your seat
Proficient: I know about this
Regular: I have some familiarity
Novice: I am not familiar with this…yet!
Arctic Issues
– How would you rate your knowledge of the
following issues?
• Current events related to the Northwest
Passage
• Climate Change in the Arctic
• Politics surrounding “sovereignty”
• Economic rights to resources lying under Arctic
waters
The Big Picture
Goal:
• Learn about
economic issues
surrounding race
for Arctic
resources and
territory
© NASA
Climate Change
Projected Ice Extent – 2010-2090
Source: ACIA
Unimaginable?
• By the year 2020 if the race for the
Arctic is not resolved, a real polar war
could break out over the scramble for oil
and gas
• Jane’s International Defense Review, a
British think tank, warns
Oil and Gas: Resources of the North
Oil and Gas
Source: AMAP
The Northwest Passage
© CASES
Lesson: Who Owns the
Northwest Passage”?
• Student
Scenario
Guidelines for Maritime
Disputes
• Canada’s position
• UNCLOS:
International set
of legal standards
about regulations
of the seas
• US and other
Arctic nations
position
The Northwest Passage
• Principal nations are
the six Arctic
nations:
– Russia
– United States
– Norway
– Denmark
(Greenland)
– Iceland
– Canada
© CASES
Defending Sovereignty
• “Canada has a choice when
it comes to defending our
sovereignty over the Arctic. We
either use it or lose it. And make no
mistake, this government intends to
use it.”
• Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Passage Pioneers
• Roald Amundsen,
August 1905, first
successful navigation.
Aboard the Gjoa (OsloPacific).
• St-Roch, 1944,
Northern Deep-Water
Route.
• Sedna IV, AugustNovember 2002, sailed
from Magdalen Island to
Vancouver.
• What’s next?
© CASES
Economic Issues
• Tourism
• Ownership
• Oil and gas
reserves
• Fisheries
• Shipping
Oslo to Tokyo
Total travel distance for a one-way trip from Norway to
Japan:
• Via Panama Canal: 24 000 km
• Via Cape Horn: 35 000 km
• Via Suez Canal (Asian Route): 21 500 km
• Via Northwest Passage: 14 500 km
Burning Issues
•Is the Northwest Passage shipping route
between Europe and Asia safe and secure?
• Who has rights to the resources lying under
the seabed?
•Is the Northwest Passage an "international
strait" or, as Canada claims, "internal waters?
• What of the Inuit claim that sea ice
constitutes traditional territory?
In Conclusion
• Climate Change
is Transforming
the Arctic
• New Perceptions
• Realities of
Accessibility
Thank you!
Marianne Kenney
Denver Public Schools
[email protected]
“Who Owns the Northwest Passage?” K-12
Study Canada website
http://www.k12studycanada.org/files/lesson_pla
ns/2009SCSI_KenneyM_WhoControlsNWPa
ssage_Gr_9_12.pdf
Questions