Current Challenges and Future Prospects in the Arctic

Olav Orheim
Senior Advisor for the Ministry of Environment, Norway

During the Cold War, the Arctic was a stable area of little or no multilateral cooperation. The demise of the Soviet Union and the rise of oil prices have changed the dynamics considerably. The Arctic is now a major oil and gas province (USGS estimates that 25% of the global total of oil is in the Arctic). It is also a little-disturbed area, now undergoing faster climate change than the rest of the world. Orheim's talk will examine the new opportunities and challenges for industry and nation states posed by the Arctic region.