What's your take on The Ilulissat Declaration?

Question

The declaration deals with the responsible management of the Arctic Ocean and that existing international legal frameworks such as the Law of the Sea and international fora such as the Arctic Council provide a foundation for strengthening cooperation.

It's a bit tough to slog through the rhetoric, but I seem to find myself reading between the lines. I'm not sure what to think here, whether it is a good step or it just looks like one.

http://uk.nanoq.gl/Emner/News/News_from_Parliament/2008/05/~/media/66562304FA464945BB621411BFFB6E12.ashx

http://arctic-council.org/article/2008/6/after_the_ilulissat-declaration

Answer 1

We need to divvy up the mineral rights, not sign something that says nobody can have at them.

The medieval economy was held back for hundreds of years because of the superstitious belief that any interest was usury - the misunderstanding of the time value of money.

As a result, growth lagged and the global economy remained a state of feudalism and slavery - life was "nasty, brutish and short" as Hobbes noted, not because it had to be, but because we in essence tied our arms behind our backs.

Let's not hold back our economy for hundreds of years by leaving valuable resources untapped on the basis of another superstition.

Answer 2

Hard to say.  It's nice that they've agreed in principle to protect the Arctic ecosystems and use "responsible management", but it sure seems like a lot more rhetoric than substance to me.

Answer 3

Randell is right.  The Russians are pretending that the Arctic is part of their territory.  Humans became successful by utilizing our environment.  You can be responsible about it but the left consistently stands in the way of progress.  Sometimes I don't think they will be satisfied until we are back swinging through the trees eating fruit and then of course they will put the fruit off limits.