LEAVE THE ARCTIC ALONE

The Arctic is currently changing in ways we are still trying to grasp, but it is already dramatically, undeniably different than it was just 30 years ago. The white cover of sea ice that blankets the Arctic is receding dramatically in the summer months. Satellite data show the September minimum has shrunk by more than 11 percent per decade since 1979, researchers say.

As the volume and frequency of open water in the Arctic grows, so too does activity by oil and gas, shipping, mining, and other industries. Ship transit through the Bering Strait, the gateway from the North Pacific Ocean to the Arctic, more than doubled between 2008 and 2012, and sea traffic throughout the region continues to grow exponentially as it provides a shorter cargo route between Asia and Europe. At the same time, several companies seek to mine reserves that could contain as much as 22 percent of the world’s undiscovered conventional oil and gas.

Questions, too, are mounting along with the activity. The Arctic nations—the United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark (including Greenland), Norway, Iceland, Finland, and Sweden—now face unprecedented dilemmas over resource development, ecosystems protection, emergency response infrastructure, geopolitical boundaries, and many other effects of a changing northern climate.

• Industry plans for development in the Arctic
• Safety technologies for energy development and oil spill clean-up
• Conservation needs for marine mammals, wildlife, and ecosystems
• Observation-based knowledge of indigenous populations
• National and international governance
• Emergency response capability

above options were suggested in the National Geographic channel's question. But my answer is the Arctic region should be left untouched. The pristine beauty should be treated as the common wealth of the earth. Along with the Antarctic the Arctic must be declared as the assets of the earth and no country should be allowed any claim or ownership or tenancy. Only then the future generations would have some space to live in. The present occupants- the humans - alone can not exploit every resource of this earth. He should be generous to spare a little for his future generations.