The decision by a parliamentary committee to review policies on the Arctic comes alongside commercial drive into the region
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 March 2012 14.12 GMT
The decision by a parliamentary committee to review British government policies on the Arctic on Wednesday comes amid a surge of global economic and political interest in the far north.
British-based oil companies, Shell and Cairn Energy, are at the centre of a new commercial drive into the region where melting ice caps are endangering the polar bear but making drilling more easy.
The environmental audit committee makes clear the UK has a “strong environmental, political, economic and scientific interests in the region” while individual committee members, such as the Green MP Caroline Lucas, point out it is a critical area surrounding all aspects of climate change.