Arctic nations agreed steps on Thursday to make the region safer and promised to study ways to prevent oil spills as fast-melting ice and snow open access to rich mineral and petroleum resources, according to Reuters. The Arctic Council, made up of eight countries that surround the Arctic and representatives of indigenous Arctic peoples, signed a deal to split up search-and-rescue responsibilities in case of shipping or plane accidents. The deal in Greenland was the council's first binding agreement and officials say it could be a model for future pacts on more contentious issues, including energy exploration and development in a region estimated to hold as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves. Among oil majors eyeing the Arctic are Royal Dutch Shell Plc , ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Norway's Statoil and Russia's state-controlled oil group Rosneft. The ministers also pledged to study new ways to both prevent and handle future oil spills. Environmental groups say time is running short to establish vital safeguards. The Arctic Council comprises the United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark, which handles foreign affairs for Greenland. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who led the U.S. delegation to Greenland's tiny capital of Nuuk, said there was no doubt that climate change was occurring and that humankind was to blame. "The challenges in the region are not just environmental," Clinton said. "We know that the decisions we make now are going to have long lasting ramifications and we want to make the right decisions." The search agreement also gave the United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark and Norway responsibilities for areas right up to the North Pole -- avoiding the vexed question of which country's territory that might be. "The Arctic Council is showing for the first time that it can agree a binding deal," Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told NRK public television. "This is very positive." The council has often been criticised as toothless. The council also called for work to begin on an international deal to strengthen offshore oil spill prevention and response and urged new steps to control short-lived pollutants such as soot and methane, which have a particularly strong impact on the Arctic.
