Polar Regions

At the beginning of the 21st century, the polar regions have moved center stage in global discussions about preserving the environment. The intense discussion about polar regions in international scientific, political, and media circles has emerged from an increasing awareness of the impacts of climate change and from an interest in the resource potential of the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as from concern over protection of the unique ecosystems of both regions. The global gaze on these regions of the world has fallen on what were once viewed to be remote, inaccessible places that only a few scientists and adventurers visited. Yet popular stereotypes obscure the histories and contemporary realities of the polar regions.

Rather than being peripheral to world events, the polar regions have been tied to the global economy for centuries in some cases, as well as being subject to the effects of increasing globalization. Scientists have also long understood the importance of studying the polar regions because of the ways they influence the Earth's weather systems—for example, the sea ice in both the Arctic and the Antarctic is a major element in the global climate system, while the Southern Ocean plays a significant role in processes of biogeochemical cycling and exchange of gases between the ocean and the atmosphere.

Although they are often assumed to be regions worthy of comparative study, the Arctic and Antarctic are polar opposites in several important ways. They are fundamentally different geographically in that a large portion of the Arctic consists of the ice-covered Arctic Ocean, which is surrounded by many islands and archipelagos, and the northern parts of the mainland areas of the North American and Eurasian continents, whereas the Antarctic is an ice-covered landmass surrounded by an ocean. They also have different environmental patterns, climatic systems, and wildlife habitats—for instance, there is much lower terrestrial biodiversity in the Antarctic than in the Arctic—and there are no indigenous peoples living in Antarctica. Antarctica has also been subject to an international framework for environmental management and conservation under the Antarctic Treaty System for the past 50 years, whereas no such regime exists in the northern circumpolar region. The Arctic regions comprise the northern parts of eight nation-states; although the international community does not recognize sovereignty by states over any portion of Antarctica, seven countries have made territorial claims to parts of the continent.

Nonetheless, and despite these differences, their influence over the function of the Earth system is emphasized in the scientific literature and they are both sites of international political interest and scientific activity, as well as ecologically sensitive regions that conservationists work to protect. For example, an increasing number of non-Arctic states are expressing interest in both the resource potential and the governance of the Arctic Ocean, with some states and nonstate actors such as conservation organizations calling for the creation of an Arctic treaty to oversee the management of the region and its resource development. Both regions are also attracting large numbers of tourists eager [Page 1329]to experience what are represented as some of the world's last wilderness areas, and the presence of large cruise ships provokes anxiety among environmentalists over the impacts increasing numbers of visitors have on the environment and wildlife habitat.

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