Russia boosting Arctic presence, not seeking Pole: envoy

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Indigenous groups hold Alaska climate change talks
Indigenous peoples, who have been hard hit by the ravages of global warming, were gathering in Alaska Monday for talks on the impact of climate change on native communities. "Indigenous peoples are on the front lines of this global problem, at a time when their cultures and livelihoods in traditional lands are already threatened," said Patricia Cochran, chairwoman of the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change, one of the groups sponsoring the meeting. "The indigenous community worldwide really wanted to have an opportunity to come together to discuss issues about climate change, and all the problems that they are facing in their communities and how we've tried to resolve those issues," she added. Organizers said indigenous peoples from every region of the world will be represented at the meeting, sharing their observations and experiences of early impacts in their part of the planet, as well as traditional practices that could help ease the impact of climate change. Cochran said the meeting plans not only to highlight the negative impact of global warming on native peoples, but to propose potential solutions "to address the climate impact being felt in our community." The gathering in Anchorage is being held some 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the Alaskan village of Newtok, where intensifying river flow and melting permafrost have forced 320 residents to relocate to higher ground. The destruction of Newtok and nearby communities, as well as the relocation of inhabitants, has cost of tens of millions of dollars, native officials said. Recommendations from the climate change meeting, which concludes on Friday with a declaration and an action plan, will be submitted to a United Nations climate change conference to be held in Copenhagen in December.

by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) April 20, 2009
Russia has no claims on the North Pole nor does it plan to militarise the Arctic, but it aims to persuade a United Nations commission of additional territorial claims, a Russian official said on Monday.

Anton Vasilyev, Russian envoy to the eight-nation Arctic Council, said that an expedition that planted a Russian flag on the North Pole seabed in 2007 did not signify a territorial claim.

"A flag was planted on the polar seabed and we're proud of this. It was a triumph of Russian technology and the Russian spirit. But it is not a territorial claim.... The North Pole is not Russian territory," Vasilyev said.

The envoy was speaking to reporters before an April 29 meeting of the Arctic Council, an inter-governmental body representing countries in the region.

The 2007 North Pole expedition focussed world attention on the claims of Russia and other nations to Arctic territory and the vast energy and mineral resources believed to lie there.

Expedition leader Artur Chilingarov made a series of eye-catching claims at the time, such as: "The Arctic has always been Russian and will remain so."

On Monday Vasilyev said Russia would continue efforts to convince a UN commission that is trying to decide on territorial claims in the Arctic of the correctness of Russia's claims.

These are based on the argument that an underwater geological structure, the Lomonosov Ridge, which stretches across much of the Arctic, is a continuation of Russia's continental shelf.

Russia must do more "to persuade the 21 members of the commission that parts of the seabed... are of a continental character, are a continuation of the geomorphological continent," said Vasilyev.

He also referred to a Russian strategy document for the period to 2020 that envisages strengthening security in the region. He insisted this merely meant boosting border and coastguard services and upgrading surveillance equipment.

"We don't see the need for a militarisation of the Arctic. The situation in the Arctic is favourable and calm, stable and predictable. We're far from taking any hasty decisions in the area," he said.

Russia's security plans consisted of "strengthening the border guard and coastguard and strengthening infrastructure, restoring and creating infrastructure to monitor and check the situation," he said.

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Massive emissions cuts can save Arctic ice: study

Washington (AFP) April 14, 2009
Cutting greenhouse gases by 70 percent this century would spare the planet the most traumatic effects of climate change, including the massive loss of Arctic sea ice, a study said Tuesday.

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