26), this action has not only been warming this region about twice as fast as the rest of the planet, but also, has led to many other investigations on this topic, including the last research produced by NASA and European Space Agency which has demonstrated that "the polar ice caps have melted faster in last 20 years than in the last 10,000 years" primarily as a consequence of weather outbursts and overuse of resources on a massive scale (ESA, 2012, p. 10).
Furthermore, it might be emphasized that perhaps since 1961, exploiting Arctic's natural resources is prohibited by the Arctic Treaty System. There are numerous countries including USA and Russia (which are 2 of the 50 signatory nations) that are transgressing this agreement by promoting other than scientific purposes for this land that was conceived in the treaty for solely investigative functions (IPPC, 2012, p, 10). Indeed, with Arctic ice melting at record pace, abundant political, economics and territorial tensions are rising as well. Tom Burke, UK Foreign Officer of climate changes, explains in Watts (2012) that: the main problem is that ice is "falling much faster than expected", so "everybody who thinks they've got a chance to get at those resources wants to get in there and stake their claim", as Russia did "in 2007 when polar explorer Artur Chilingarov used a submarine to plant a Russian flag on the seabed under the North Pole" (Watts, 2012, n.p).
Alternatively, it is essential to recognize that apart from the countries geographically located near Arctic, there are an other good number of claims that have been made by other countries including China, who strongly suggests that they should be considered as "a near-Arctic state" based on the fact that Northeastern China stretches almost to 50 degrees north latitude with the Arctic. Others disagree with China's claim based on the fact that "the German island of Sylt, which lies at 54 degrees north latitude, could also be described as "near-Arctic", but is not described in this way, nor do the Germans attempt to make such a claim.
