L’essor des activités économiques en Arctique : impact des changements climatiques et de la mondialisation

• Published in: Belgeo
• Main Author: Frédéric Lasserre
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; French
• Published: Société Royale Belge de Géographie and the Belgian National Committee of Geography 2021
• Subjects: Arctic; commercial shipping; natural resources; climate change; globalisation; Geography (General); G1-922; Pacific; Arctique*; Climate change
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.4000/belgeo.44181; https://doaj.org/article/bb479cae02a041cfb16cc31b97165ddb

With the advent of climate change, the idea, widely spread in the media but also among many researchers, developed that these changes would promote the development of economic activities in the Arctic. Maritime transit between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and extractive activities would support this development. A closer look at these activities, however, calls for a more nuanced look at the role of climate change. Admittedly, maritime traffic has increased since the turn of the century. However, the engine of this growth is not transit, it is much more destination traffic, ships coming to the Arctic to carry out an economic activity there. Extractive activity is experiencing a significant boom, especially on the Russian side, despite the conditions of activity that remain difficult despite climate change. Relatively high commodity prices until very recently and strong government involvement in favor of resource development in Russia, explain the boom in these extractive activities.