President Barack Obama will be the first sitting U.S. President to visit Alaska’s Arctic region when he begins a three day trip to the state on Monday to discuss an aggressive response to climate change.
“I’m looking forward to talking with Alaskans about how we can work together to make America the leader on climate change around the globe,” the President said during his weekly radio address.
While in Alaska, the President will address a U.S. State Department sponsored international conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic. The goal is to help focus attention on the challenges and opportunities in the region, with the primary objective of addressing the response to the dramatic impact of climate change on the Arctic. Increasing temperatures, melting glaciers, sea ice and permafrost, and rising sea levels are linked to the recent warming in the Arctic.
The diminishing Arctic ice has also created geo-political tensions as nations seek to capitalize on increased shipping and more vigorous exploration for oil, gas, and minerals. President Obama has recently come under fire following his approval for a permit for Royal Dutch Shell to drill an exploratory well in the Arctic Ocean.
While Arctic nations have successfully cooperated on issues within the region in the past, the increasing interest in the Arctic has led to greater potential for emerging security issues. Russia has ordered the reopening of 50 Soviet-era military bases in the Arctic and increased the number of military personnel; all while the Russian economy is suffering greatly. Earler this month, Moscow appealed to the UN Commission on the Limits to the Outer Continental Shelf to expand its territorial claims in the Arctic by over 463,000 square miles. While Russia has begun building up its military presence in the region, the U.S. Navy has no ice-capable warships, and the Army is considering reducing its two brigades in Alaska.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to attend this week’s Arctic conference, but Lavrov declined. The Russian delegation will be led by Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. While there will likely be a discussion of the growing tensions over Russian militarization in the Arctic, there is little expectation of any real diplomatic progress.
Still, a regional expert at George Washington University sees climate change as a way to build consensus among those around the table. Dr. Marlene Laruelle, Associate Director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, said, “I think the good thing about climate change is it’s really maintaining the door open to scientific cooperation. And that really is a key issue where the U.S. and Russia cooperation is going well.”
Alexandra Viers is an analyst at The Cipher Brief.
