Preface to "Circumnavigating the North Pole"

To sail the Northwest and Northeast passages has been a wet and ice cold dream for polar explorers, scientists, sailors and adventurers for half a millennium. These expeditions through unexplored waters faced extreme dangers – you could almost call them the extreme sports of yesteryear – and sadly, most of these intrepid souls never came back. They could take up to three years, as was the case with Roald Amundsen’s Gjøa expedition from 1903 to 1906, which was the first to conquer the Northwest Passage. A few polar explorers did however return and have told their stories through diaries, reports, scientific articles, lectures and photographic records. These include Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen, and not least Børge Ousland, who has survived many adventures in this icy wilderness. This book is a testament to his courage and spirit of adventure. 

Inspired by strong Norwegian polar traditions, Børge Ousland and Thorleif Thorleifsson sailed through both passages in 2010, performing the incredible feat of circumnavigating the North Pole during the course of a single summer, and moreover doing so in a 31-foot fibreglass trimaran. In this respect, the expedition contrasted strongly with those of Nansen and Amundsen, who had to battle against the ice. Ousland and Thorleifsson’s journey showed us that the ice is melting, that it is now possible to sail around the North Pole. This poses new challenges and opens up new opportunities for we who live in these northern climes. 

Our Circumpolar Voyage is an impressive and exciting adventure, but it is also a frightening book. It is frightening because the ice is thawing so obviously and so quickly. It is quite clear that this development in the Arctic is a warning sign of the global climate change that is taking place. 

Research has shown that the annual average temperature is rising twice as fast in the Arctic as in the rest of the world. The multi-year ice is shrinking. In the winter of 2009 less than 15% of the ice in the Arctic Ocean was more than two years old. The extent of the ice is also undergoing major change, as the observations made by the crew of the Northern Passage during the summer of 2010 confirm. 

The Børge Ousland and Thorleif Thorleifsson Expedition was clearly inspired by the long and proud polar traditions of Norway – and other European countries – where the formula for success has been a desire to explore, curiosity and bravado combined with an innovative approach, expertise and a first-class support team at home. Many expeditions have sought to navigate from Western Europe to Asia via the northern routes. Many attempts at this have been made – entailing terrible hardship and often loss of life – since the 16^th century. It was not until Roald Amundsen’s expedition with the small polar sloop Gjøa that the Northwest Passage was first traversed. 

His winter-long stay with the Inuits at the location later named Gjøahavn on King William Island provided vital knowledge for Amundsen’s successful skiing expedition to the South Pole in 1911. 

The Northeast Passage was first navigated by the Finnish/Swedish explorer Adolf Nordenskiöld in 1878–1880, while Amundsen became the first to sail through both passages when he navigated the Maud through the Northeast Passage in 1918–1920. 

Then as now, a polar expedition required the most advanced technology and expertise if it was to be a success. More than a century ago, the purpose-built polar vessels Fram, Gjøa and Maud, were specially designed to withstand the punishing effects of the drift ice and the crushing power of the frozen sea that held them in its grip during the long polar winter. For the voyage in our time, the chosen vessel was the Northern Passage, a 31-foot shell of fibreglass speedy enough to sail through both passages during the short Arctic summer season. All these vessels were highly innovative for their time. 

The contrast between Nansen and Amundsen’s robust vessels and the elegant fibreglass racer is a striking illustration of developments in our polar regions. A hundred years ago, it was impossible for even the sturdiest icebreaker to cut a passage through the pack ice; the only alternative was to build vessels with hulls that were up to a metre thick, like Fram, and a special design that enabled the vessel to be lifted above the pressure of the ice. However, in 2010 Ousland and Thorleifsson were able to navigate around the great icebergs in the same desolate Arctic Ocean with a fibreglass vessel clad in a skin that was a mere 2–3 cm thick. This is an extraordinary, but almost slightly disconcerting development. 

Like Sverdrup, Nansen and Amundsen, Ousland has planned his expeditions very carefully, including an extensive training programme, making the best possible use of local expertise, lessons learned, technology and science. Although Børge Ousland, like other adventurers of our time, has not discovered new islands, mountain ranges or fjords, or coloured in blank areas on our maps – as his predecessors did a century and more ago – he and his team have nevertheless encountered new landscapes in the same polar region and applied new methods and techniques.

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From my first day as Foreign Minister, I have had my sights firmly set on the High North. Of all the areas close to Norway it is the High North that is undergoing most change. It is here that we see not only a number of challenges but also major new opportunities arising from the growing interest in the resources to be found here and the possibility of new commercial shipping lanes being established due to climate change. A key aspect is Norway’s good and close relations with our neighbouring countries, including our large neighbour to the east, Russia. 

It is both a major responsibility of the Government and one of its most important goals to ensure that Norway has a political strategy and the necessary tools to maintain the leading position we have had in the High North since the end of the 19th century. 

Since it came into power in 2005, the Government has set the High North as its top strategic foreign policy priority. The overriding political goals of our High North policy are to safeguard the peace and stability enjoyed by the region, ensure sustainable management of resources, and strengthen international cooperation on resolving common challenges in the region. If we attain these important goals, we will also have the best possible framework for achieving our domestic goals of full employment, wealth creation and welfare for all citizens nationwide.

Key words for our efforts in the High North are: activity, knowledge and presence. Firstly, Norway’s ambition is to be the leading nation in the most important areas of commercial activity in the High North. Secondly, Norway is to be at the forefront of knowledge development in areas such as polar and climate research, commercial development and geopolitics. Thirdly, Norway aims to ensure a presence in the region through sound policies for settlement, wealth creation, employment and culture in North Norway, and to ensure a presence throughout Norway’s territory and sea areas. 

The choice of Tromsø as home to the new Permanent Secretary of the Arctic Council in May 2011 has further reinforced Norway’s role in the development of the High North and the Arctic. 

In simple terms, the main drivers for developments in the High North are: resources, climate change and our relations with Russia. 

Climate change presents a major challenge to both people and the environment in the Arctic. The polar regions function as laboratories, providing early warnings of the major global climate change that is taking place. Similarly, the Arctic and Antarctic are extremely vulnerable to hazardous substances such as heavy metals. This has had, and will continue to have, an effect on the health of those living in these regions, particularly indigenous peoples. 

Individual countries simply cannot deal with these challenges alone. They must be addressed through a joint effort with other nations. Only then will we be able to exploit the potential offered by the retreating ice, and conserve and protect the unique Arctic environment and indigenous cultures, which are steeped in tradition, in a good and sustainable manner. 

Through close and pragmatic cooperation with our neighbour and largest Arctic nation  Russia, we have achieved good results in the management and protection of the environment and living marine resources such as cod. Our close border cooperation with Russia continues to develop in a positive way, and we have – after 40 years of negotiations – reached agreement on maritime delimitation. 

The retreating ice provides access to previously inaccessible resources in the northern sea areas such as fish, oil and gas, and opportunities for increased human activity. The prospects of increased traffic along the Northeast Passage must be seen in connection with the increase in trade between economic powerhouses in Asia and Europe. 

Global climate change will over time make the Arctic Ocean and adjoining seas more accessible to international shipping. Interest in transit traffic through the Northeast Passage is on the increase. The reason for this is obvious: a voyage from Yokohama to Hamburg is roughly 40% shorter than the Suez Canal route. Savings on bunkers consumption from using the Northeast Passage are estimated to be roughly 20%. 

Only a few vessels have sailed between Europe and Asia through the Northeast Passage since the summer of 2010. In the long term, however, the Northeast Passage may be a viable route for the international merchant fleet. 

There are a number of challenges associated with shipping activities in Arctic waters, including maritime safety, emergency response, monitoring and controls. The costs of building ice-class vessels are high. The long polar night, the risk of ice formation on vessels, and high insurance premiums all push costs upwards. Also, regularity will be less reliable than with other shipping routes. In New Building Blocks in the North, the Government lists a number of initiatives to strengthen monitoring, emergency preparedness and maritime safety in the northern sea areas. Work is also underway in the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on binding rules for shipping in polar waters. 

An increase in shipping activities in the Arctic region is something Norway and other Arctic nations are taking very seriously. At the meeting of the Arctic Council in May 2011, I was one of the co-signatories to a new, binding agreement on search and rescue in Arctic waters that maps out the responsibilities of the individual signatory countries in the event of an accident. 

*** 

This year we are celebrating the 150^th anniversary of Fridtjof Nansen’s birth and the centenary of Roald Amundsen’s planting of the Norwegian flag at the South Pole. These two national heroes learnt from the past and looked to the future in their actions. We should allow ourselves to be inspired by their wisdom and vision, as many other adventurers have been since. A parliamentary bill from 1907 on the Gjøa expedition provides a telling insight into how important such achievements were to Norway: “All agree that from start to finish the expedition has been a source of national pride and honour, and an outstanding achievement in polar research, where Norway was already a pioneer, and – perhaps more than anything else – has drawn international attention to the scientific work being carried out in Norway.” 

Børge Ousland and Thorleif Thorleifsson’s historic expedition in 2010, the first to sail through the Northwest and Northeast Passages in a single season, has found its place in our strong Norwegian tradition of leading the way in the polar regions. It also bears witness to the changes taking place in our corner of the world. The book is therefore an inspiration for our ongoing work to secure peaceful and sustainable development in the High North, where the protection of a vulnerable environment, innovation, daring and state-of-the-art expertise must be central elements.

[The English version of the book is to be published in 2012]