Security Debrief contributor Scott Borgerson published “Arctic Meltdown: The Economic and Security Implications of Global Warming” last year in the prestigious foreign policy journal Foreign Affairs. With all of the focus on global warming currently coming out of Copenhagen, we thought it might be worth bringing Scott’s thoughts to your attention again.
Thanks to global warming, the Arctic icecap is rapidly melting, opening up access to massive natural resources and creating shipping shortcuts that could save billions of dollars a year. But there are currently no clear rules governing this economically and strategically vital region. Unless Washington leads the way toward a multilateral diplomatic solution, the Arctic could descend into armed conflict.
