 This presentation, Final Frozen Frontier, Geopolitical and Geo-Economic Thinking on the Arctic, was presented on June 8th at the CSIS Global Security Forum at the Willard Hotel in downtown Washington. A rapidly transforming Arctic is a subject of growing global interest and importance to Washington policymakers. But first, to understand the Arctic, you must form a new perspective. Looking at a regular map on the wall, it is difficult to gain that perspective. To gain a fresh perspective, we must go to the top of the world using the helpful tool of Google Earth. Let's go to the North Pole. Welcome to the Arctic, an area which covers one-sixth of the planet's landmass. There are five Arctic coastal or littoral states, Russia, Canada, Denmark via Greenland, Norway, and the United States. These countries are sometimes referred to as the Arctic Five. There are eight members of the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum for Arctic governments and indigenous peoples. Members of the Arctic Council include the five coastal states, plus Iceland, Sweden, and Finland. This region is not a static picture. What you are watching now is a time lapse of changing and receding polar ice from 1978 to today. The polar ice cap is 25% smaller than in 1978. In the summer of 2007 alone, one million more square miles of ice melted beyond the average. Sea ice thickness has decreased by approximately 40% over the past several decades. The receding ice cap has allowed for greater access to the Arctic by way of shipping routes. The two routes are the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route. The economic dynamics of the region will shape the Arctic's future profoundly, particularly in the shipping industry, where potentially global shipping times from east to west could be reduced by 30%. Two German ships from the Beluga Group, shown here, traveled in the summer of 2009 from South Korea to Rotterdam through the Northern Sea Route, marking the first commercial transit through the entire Northern Sea Route, reducing the trip by 3,500 miles and 10 days. The other critical economic driver of the region is its abundant oil and gas resources. The US Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic holds 30% of the world's remaining natural gas resources and 13% of untapped oil supplies. You can see where these deposits lie here. 84% of the oil and gas is offshore in waters less than 500 meters deep. While most Arctic oil and gas resources are found within the exclusive economic zones of the coastal states, shown here, some are located on disputed boundaries. The recently ratified Norwegian-Russian Border Demarcation Agreement is an example where Arctic border disagreements have been successfully resolved. With the increase of commercial and human activity in the Arctic, comes the need to ensure safe transit, protect borders, and provide adequate protection and safety of life in extreme climatic conditions. To adequately protect shipping, icebreakers are needed. Let's travel to Murmansk, Russia, and take a look at some of Russia's nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet. Countries must now protect borders that were once protected by ice and inaccessibility. Arctic coastal states train their military personnel to operate in severe conditions. Let's travel to the Canadian Northern Territories, where we find Canada performing in its annual joint exercise of its maritime command and Coast Guard operations, Operation Nanook. Recently, Canada invited Denmark and the United States to participate in this exercise. Search and rescue will be a prominent feature of the future Arctic security landscape. Let's travel to Dead Horse, Alaska, where, depending on the moment, we could see the Coast Guard cutter, the U.S. Healy, America's newest and largest polar icebreaker. Next year, the Healy will be the only ice-strengthened vehicle in the U.S. fleet. To underscore the importance of search and rescue, May of this year members of the Arctic Council signed a legally binding agreement on international search and rescue. This map outlines the sectors of responsibility of each Arctic Council member. And we can see by this footage that robust training and exercising in the Arctic will be vital. In addition to the economics and security dimensions, the Arctic is a place identified by strong international cooperation and coordination to protect the fragile Arctic environment, also to ensure sustainable development and reduce the effects of climate change. This has been the mandate of the Arctic Council since its creation in 1996. Let's go to Stockholm, Sweden. The Swedish government currently serves as the chair of the Arctic Council until 2013. Here is a picture taken in May of this year in Nuuk, Greenland, at the Arctic Council ministerial meeting. The Arctic Council is the primary forum for addressing policy challenges in the Arctic. Science is an important element of Arctic research and understanding. Let's travel to the Norwegian Ice Center in Svalbard, Norway, one of the most modern Arctic research centers in the world. Finally, one non-Arctic actor in particular has taken an active interest in Arctic science and research, and that is China. The newly created Polar Institute of China has signed an agreement with Polar Research Cooperation with Norway and is present in Svalbard. The world's largest non-nuclear-powered icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, shown here, normally docked in its port in Shanghai, has completed four scientific expeditions to the Arctic. Thank you for joining us on this brief Arctic tour. To learn more about the CSIS Arctic program, the Geopolitics of the High North, check us out at arctic.csis.org.