Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Is The Arctic Ready To Give Up Its Treasures?

The icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnicov in pack ice off Canada Photo: Daisy Gilardini

From The Telegraph:

Global warming could reveal lucrative reserves of untapped oil, gas and precious metals beneath the ice caps in the near future - but at what environmental cost?

For all the talk among world leaders of the perils of climate change, many are scenting an opportunity. As the Arctic ice retreats, surrounding nations are looking to plunder those natural resources under the surface, estimated by the US Geological Survey to constitute as much as 13 per cent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 per cent of its undiscovered natural gas – as well as precious metals including iron ore, gold, zinc and nickel.

Read more ....

No comments: