Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-03-10-Speech-3-322"
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"en.20100310.22.3-322"2
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"Mr President, a sort of cultural schizophrenia is apparent in our attitude to the Arctic region. On the one hand, we are concerned. It is quite obvious that climate change is taking place faster in the Arctic than elsewhere. The region has been compared to a canary in a mine.
Since 1979, the average annual ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has shrunk by around 1.5 million square kilometres, which is the area of France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom combined. This melting process is accelerating climate change because it is reducing the earth’s reflectance, or albedo. It is releasing methane from the tundra, and could also release it from the seabed. Methane speeds up climate change even more. The melting process also allows toxins that have accumulated over many years to be released into the environment.
While we are concerned about the situation, at the same time, an oil and gas rush has started in the Arctic. Countries are quarrelling and negotiating about how the seabed might be divided up. Moreover, the indigenous peoples are largely being ignored in all this.
The EU should now be promoting a consistent approach to sustainable development. It should control the glittery images of euro and dollar signs and support the protection of the Arctic region by means of the same sort of agreement that applies to the Antarctic. Furthermore, the indigenous peoples should be included in all decisionmaking processes that relate to the region. In any event, there should be a 50year moratorium on the exploitation of fossil resources in the area.
It needs to be understood that nature and wildlife in the region are delicate and vulnerable. For example, there are much greater problems and worse risks associated with drilling for oil there than elsewhere. Shipping companies also need to acknowledge the enormous difficulties and risks that exist in the region. It is of no help whatsoever if we merely tag a few nice words about the environment and the indigenous peoples on to the decisions we take but our actual deeds mean that we seriously risk contaminating the environment irreversibly and that we violate the rights of the indigenous population."@en1
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