Determinants of the creation and development of the legal regime for the Arctic

Abstract

Although the Convention on the Law of the Sea is recognised as the basic
legal instrument relating to the Arctic, in the light of the progressive climatic
changes and rapid development of technologies that make it possible to mine
natural resources from the seabed, a question is more and more often asked
about the relevance of new legal framework development for the region. The
article focuses on the issue of the main elements of the legal regime for the
Arctic. It discusses the status of the seabed and its underground as well as
the concept of the continental shelf. In the context of some countries’ calls
for extending control over the territory north of the Arctic Circle, the author
presents the Arctic states’ stand on the mechanisms of controlling the region
expressed in the Ilulissat Declaration.