Denmark claims North Pole
Denmark plans to claim North Pole
Denmark intends to claim the North Pole and areas close to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, announced Tuesday, the Danish newspaper Information website, citing a policy document of the Foreign Ministry, according to AFP.
"The country intends to claim the continental shelf in five areas around the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, including the North Pole, according to diplomatic documents to be published in June.
Denmark Adoption of the plan entitled "Strategy for the Arctic 2001 - 2020"is likely to create tensions in relations with Russia, the United States, Canada and Norway, countries with interests in the coastal area.
Melting ice sheets and new technologies have increased the interest in this important area of hydrocarbon resources, which became more accessible.
According to the American Geological Institute (USGS), inside the Arctic Circle might find a fifth of yet undiscovered oil reserves in the world, that 13 percent of oil and 30 percent of natural gas.Basement of the North Pole seems to have significant resources, but has a symbolic value: in 2007, Russia sent minisubmarin to install a national flag on the seabed, the vertical North Pole.Riparian countries have an economic zone of 200 nautical miles off the coast and the rest of the land claims should be analyzed under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (CNUDM). According to the Convention, countries that make such claims must be announced within a maximum of ten years after ratifying the document. Denmark has ratified the Convention in 2004.