War hinders scientific cooperation in the Arctic

The Arctic is ground zero for climate change, and scientific cooperation is essential for studying its effects. But many such collaborations, in which Switzerland is also involved, have been suspended as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war. Tensions are mounting, and control of natural resources and trade routes are at stake. 

Back in 1987, then-president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, proposed transforming the Arctic into a “zone of peace”External link where East and West could work together, jointly utilising natural resources and reducing military activity on the ground. 

Today, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is upsetting the fragile balance built up in the region, and this is already having an impact on scientific collaboration in the ArcticExternal link between researchers from all over the world.  

Important field research on topics such as thawing permafrost, climate change, and the search for and extraction of mineral resources is often only possible thanks to multilateral collaborations that also involve Russian scientists. This is quite normal: Russia has the longest Arctic coastline of any country.   

But sanctions imposed on the Kremlin and the suspension of activitiesExternal link by the Arctic Council, the largest body managing cooperation between Arctic states and local populations, have interrupted many research projects on site and postponed scientific expeditions indefinitely. A few weeks ago, in fact, all of the members of the Arctic Council except Russia – namely the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – decided to boycott future institutional meetings. But Russia holds the Council presidency for the period from 2021-2023. 

Switzerland, which is a member of the Arctic Council as an observer state and has long been involved in polar exploration, is also suffering the consequences of this situation. My colleague Luigi Jorio looked at those consequences in a recent story for SWI swissinfo.ch – it’s well worth a read:

Scientists such as Gabriela Schaepman-Strub, director of the Swiss Polar Institute, have been studying the effects of global warming on precipitation and biodiversity for years, starting with sites set up in Siberia with the help of Russian partners. But because of the sanctions, Schaepman-Strub will not be able to send the financial contributions needed to ensure a presence on site to maintain the measuring equipment that is so valuable to her work. “Even before, accessing Russian territory to do research was not easy. Now it has become even more complicated,” she told Luigi.  

Beat Frey, a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, is also struggling with the consequences of the war in Ukraine: he and his team may not be able to analyse soil and vegetation samples that were collected in Russia and left there after an expedition to the Arctic. 

Do you think it is right to suspend scientific collaborations with Russia given the circumstances of the war? Or should science be kept out of geopolitical issues? Let me know your opinion! 

Fragile balances at stake 

You may be wondering why a remote and unknown region like the Arctic is so important – I wondered this myself until recently. As well as being crucial for studying and predicting the consequences of climate change and biodiversity, the Arctic is a valuable source of mineral resources such as copper, nickel, zinc and diamonds, and is home to significant amounts of rare earth metalsExternal link, which are essential for building rechargeable batteries and wind turbines. It is also estimated that the Arctic region contains 22% of the world’s oil reserves, 30% of its gas reserves and 15% of the world’s fish resources. 

Climate change and global warming have affected the strategic importance of the Arctic. The retreat of perennial glaciers has allowed for competitive exploitation of existing resources and opened new trade routes. Russia has long been challenging Denmark and Canada for control of vast portions of the Arctic Ocean seabed.  

New sea routes could also profoundly change the world’s trade patterns and balance of power. If the Arctic were accessible to all types of vessels, shipping times could be reduced through shorter routes. Passage through obligatory points such as the Suez Canal could be avoided. Imagine what this could mean for the countries at the centre of the Arctic chessboard, since today almost 90% of goods are transported by sea – a percentage that is set to increase. 

As a globalised nation, Switzerland is also dependent on global trade routes and is affected by the antagonism between the Arctic states. And such competition is a security risk for the whole of Europe. 

If you would like to better understand the strategic importance of the Arctic on the world stage and what role Switzerland could play to promote the sustainable and peaceful development of the region, I recommend you (re)read this interview we did with the president of the Swiss think-tank foraus, Anna Stünzi:

Expeditions to Antarctica continue 

At the Earth’s other pole, in Antarctica, the situation seems to be better for scientific collaboration and researchers are continuing their expeditions. Among them are Gabriel Erni Cassola and Kevin Leuenberger from the University of Basel. The two scientists boarded the German icebreaker “Polarstern” bound for Antarctica to find out how microplastics affect polar animals and bacteria. Cassola and Leuenberger tell us about their research, discoveries and life at the South Pole in an exclusive ‘logbook’. We’ll publish regular dispatches from them in the coming weeks on SWI swissinfo.ch. 

The idea was from my colleague Michele Andina. He told me how it came about: 

Earlier this year we asked researchers in Antarctica to keep a video blog for us. But we soon realised that internet access in the polar regions is extremely limited. Nevertheless, we managed to launch a colourful blog with texts and pictures by Gabriel Erni Cassola and Kevin Leuenberger from the University of Basel.  

Our authors only have two megabytes per day to send material via the internet: there is no telephone network or wifi in Antarctica, but the connection is via satellite. This is why we have entitled the blog “2MB field notes from Antarctica”. 

Don’t miss the first entry, available here:  

Do you have comments, remarks or questions about the latest news from the world of science? Let’s talk about it over a (virtual) coffee.