Canada The security dimensions of environmental policy

 http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/455931

Toronto Star

 By Alec Crawford

 July 8, 2008

 On April 13, a patrol of Canadian Rangers arrived at Eureka, a remote
 weather station in the southwest part of Ellesmere Island.

 For more than two weeks the patrol had been trekking across Canada's
 northern archipelago as part of Operation Nunalivut ("this land is
 ours"), a now-yearly exercise carried out by the Canadian Forces to
 assert the country's sovereignty in the High Arctic.

 A month later, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of National
 Defence Peter McKay unveiled the latest iteration of the Canada First
 Defence Strategy.

 The war in Afghanistan remains the focus. But the defence strategy also
 underlined a commitment to augmenting the Canadian Forces' capacity to
 "protect Canada's Arctic sovereignty and security."

 While this hearkens back to the country's more traditional security
 concerns, it has been brought about by a very new security threat: that
 of climate change.
...

With climate change increasing access to the Bering, Chukchi and
 Beaufort Seas, lucrative fisheries will develop as the ice recedes and
 cold-water fish move north.

 The exploitation of the area's mineral deposits will become more
 cost-effective, and the region's vast oil and gas resources - which are
 believed to account for one-quarter of the world's undiscovered reserves
 -- will ironically become more accessible due to climate change

...

 Successive Canadian governments have argued that the Northwest Passage
 is Canadian territory, and in the interest of North American security
 (and the environment) Canada should control traffic in the passage, as opposed to allowing unfettered access.

 The government's position stands in contrast to that of other maritime
 countries. The United States, for example, believes the Northwest
 Passage should be open to international traffic, and that vessels need
 not obtain consent from Canada before travelling through the strait;
 acceptance of Canadian sovereignty over the strait could set a dangerous
 precedent for other, equally strategic waterways such as those in the
 South China Sea.

 To back up its stake, the Canadian government is investing heavily in
 equipment and staff to bolster its presence in the region. It has
 committed to building six to eight navy patrol ships to guard the
 Northwest Passage, and in August 2007 the Prime Minister announced plans
 to build two military bases in the region: an army training centre for
 100 troops in Resolute Bay, and a deep-water port at Nanisivik on Baffin
 Island.