Last week’s European Parliament vote is a shove in the direction of creating an agreement to defend the vulnerable Arctic region, for which individual nations have their own policies, but for which there exists no unified policy, on Arctic fishing, or the contentious topics of oil and gas recovery.  

According to the report, the American Geological Survey Committee estimates that the Arctic zone contains 22 percent of the worlds untapped oil resources, the Barents Observer reported.

The EU initiative consists of including an international ecological agreement within the UN’s Law of the Sea, which would be adopted to facilitate the work of various organs such as the Arctic Council.