The legal status of oil and gas exploitation in the Arctic: the case of Norway

The rates of warming in the Arctic are double the average increase on the rest of the planet. The Arctic is especially vulnerable and climate change is already affecting this region. The melting of polar ice and land ice due to climate change, especially in Greenland, also exacerbates climate change amounting to a positive feedback loop. Oil and gas exploitation in the Arctic has additional environmental impacts affecting the marine environment and the atmosphere in the form of pollution in the oceans and a haze in the air space in the lower atmosphere affecting Arctic populations.