U.S. Unveils Military Strategy for Arctic - Inter Press Service

The military is one of our institutions that realizes that sea level rise is happening. This may seem a little obvious, but most of the Navy's facilities are built at sea level and so is their infrastructure. Here, in this article, the prospect of new strategic tensions might arise with the opening of the Arctic Sea. Click title for link.

“With Arctic sea routes starting to see more activities like tourism and commercial shipping, the risk of accidents increases. Migrating fish stocks will draw fishermen to new areas, challenging existing management plans,” Hagel [U.S. Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel] told a security conference in Canada on Friday, where he announced the new strategy.
“And while there will be more potential for tapping what may be as much as a quarter of the planet’s undiscovered oil and gas, a flood of interest in energy exploration has the potential to heighten tensions over other issues.”
Scientists are currently suggesting that Arctic waters could be almost completely ice-free for a month at a time by the middle of the coming decade, with longer periods forecasted by 2030. Some now worry that such conditions could result in a global free-for-all – what Hagel called “unprecedented challenges”.
“Throughout human history, mankind has raced to discover the next frontier. And time after time, discovery was swiftly followed by conflict,” Hagel said.