Summary
22 September 2010
Politicians and experts from around the world are meeting in Moscow to discuss who will control the large reserves of oil and gas thought to lie under the Arctic Sea.
Reporter
Steve Rosenberg
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Report
As temperatures rise and the polar ice caps melt, the race is on to unlock the treasures of the Arctic.
This region is thought to contain one quarter of the world's untapped oil and gas reserves, and there's stiff competition for them. America, Canada, Denmark and Norway have all staked territorial claims in the Arctic, and so has Russia.
Three years ago, a Russian expedition planted a titanium flag on the ocean floor beneath the North Pole. It was a symbol of Moscow's determination to protect what it sees as its national interest.
In Moscow this week scientists, businessmen and politicians from Arctic nations will discuss co-operation, but they're also expected to push their countries' claims in the region.
Steve Rosenberg, 大象传媒 News, Moscow
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Vocabulary
- temperatures
measures of how hot or cold things are
- polar ice caps
common terms for the permanently frozen areas of ice at the North and South Poles
- melt
turn from a solid to a liquid state
- treasures
precious and valuable things
- untapped
unused
- reserves
goods or resources kept for future use
- staked territorial claims
argued that the areas belong to their countries
- expedition
journey, particularly to a place that has not been visited before, or the group of people that take that journey
- titanium
a strong, light metal
- determination
strong desire to achieve something
