Climate change and rising oil prices have thrust the Arctic to the
top of the foreign policy agenda and raised difficult issues of
sovereignty, security, and environmental protection. Improved
access for shipping and resource development are leading to new
international rules on safety, pollution prevention, and
emergency response. Around the Arctic, maritime boundary
disputes are being negotiated and resolved, and new
international institutions, such as the Arctic Council, are
mediating deep-rooted tensions between Russia and NATO and
between nation states and indigenous peoples. International Law
and the Arctic explains these developments and reveals a strong
trend toward international cooperation and law-making. It thus
contradicts the widespread misconception that the Arctic is an
unregulated zone of potential conflict.