Things are heating up in resource-rich Arctic WORLD OPINION

The Arctic is getting hotter — so hot that China is claiming to be a near-Arctic country and wants to join the Arctic Council as a permanent observer. Singapore, India and South Korea — as well as Greenpeace and the Association of Oil and Gas Producers — have also applied for observer status.

Clearly, the melting of the sea ice and the opening up of new shipping routes linking the Pacific to the Atlantic, as well as the North's tremendous resource potential, are attracting a frenzy of attention. Canada, which this year becomes chair of the Arctic Council, has a unique opportunity to strengthen the leadership of the world's premier forum for intergovernmental co-operation in the North, just as global interest in the region intensifies.

Under Canada's two-year leadership, the council, which negotiates binding treaties, should seriously consider the observer applications of China, Korea and the European Union. Better to have China in the Arctic club that already exists; then it has to play by the rules and respect the sovereignty of the eight Arctic states that ring the North Pole. China, the world's top greenhouse gas emitter, has long had Arctic ambitions.

The Arctic is home to one-fifth of the world's fisheries — as well as 13 per cent of global undiscovered petroleum and 30 per cent of undiscovered natural gas. The extraction of these resources will only exacerbate climate change, and lead to possible territorial disputes, oil spills, and an increased military presence.

The sustainability and safety of the North and its people must not be compromised by commercial activities. Any new voices on the council should not drown out those of Inuit, Sami and other aboriginal groups who already have permanent observer status, but no voting rights. It will be a difficult balancing act, but also a chance for Canada to enhance its global standing as a circumpolar leader.

Globe and Mail, Toronto