Arctic Island Dispute To Be Solved
Arctic Island Dispute To Be Solved: Canada and Denmark has announced today the creation of a task force to try to solve a longstanding territorial dispute over a tiny Arctic island that once provoked a diplomatic hostility.
The row over Hans Island, a barren 1.3 square kilometer (0.5 square mile) rock that sits between Ellesmere and Greenland, dates back to 1973 when the border was drawn between Canada and Greenland, part of the Danish kingdom.
The two sides are holding talks this week in Ilulissat, Greenland on the issue.
“The task force will explore options and provide recommendations on how to resolve outstanding boundary issues between the two nations,” said a joint statement.
On the surface the spat over a snow-covered uninhabitable island seems absurd, but has become essential for economic development and environmental stewardship of the Arctic.
Danes and Canadians have visited it often over the past four decades to lay claim to it, leading to diplomatic protests, vivid online campaigns and even a Canadian call to boycott Danish pastries.
In 2012, the two nations reached a tentative deal on where to draw the maritime boundary in the Lincoln Sea, a body of water in the far north-eastern Canada.
But the fate of Hans Island and overlapping economic zones was not fully resolved.
With the onset of global warming more ships are expected to sail between Ellesmere and Greenland, as the area opens up to mining, fishing, and oil and gas drilling operations.
Denmark fears that losing the ownership battle would undermine relations with Greenland, while Canada worries that a loss would weaken its negotiating position in a more consequential dispute with the United States over the Beaufort Sea, in far northwestern Canada.
Hans Island is really just a large rock, but it happens to lie smack dab in the middle of the Nares Strait, a 22-mile-wide channel of very cold water separating Canada and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
The island falls within the 12-mile territorial limit of either shore, allowing both sides to claim it under international law.
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