The greenhouse effect accelerates the melting of glaciers, exposing the sea, which introduces two new possibilities of economic exploitation that seduce five bordering countries. The first is the presumption that the Arctic is hosting the 25% of the reserves yet untapped gas and oil in the world. Some analysts argue that this statement made by U.S. geologists in 2000 is closer to a guess that a study based on scientific evidence, as the complexity of ice exploration that presents this difficult area of research, especially in the months of winter when the sun never rising above the Arctic Circle. a However, soaring global oil prices have encouraged the fever to find and exploit the potential sites in this region of 1.2 million square kilometers, although not part of the sovereignty of any nation. economic to the second reading of this environmental disaster, caused in large part by the action of man, is opening new trade routes that were previously closed by ice. a Predictably, disputes erupted among the five countries claiming sovereignty. In 1982, the UN approved the treaty on the Law of the Sea, which is that if a country demonstrates that its continental shelf extends beyond 200 miles can claim sovereignty. United States never signed the treaty, however, after the Ilulissat meeting pledged to sign it. Why a Washington changed his mind 26 years later? Melting Arctic allows you to search a "and claim if necessary – if the Alaskan seabed extends beyond 200 miles to the north pole.