Arctic land rush

摘要

Cooperation, not conflict, was the message relayed by politicians at the Arctic Councils biennial meeting in Nuuk, Greenland, on 12 May. The rush to claim seabed territory and oil and gas resources in the melting Arctic threatens to spark international disputes. But US secretary of state Hillary Clinton described the council as the 'preeminent intergovernmental body' for solving problems. The meeting saw the signing of the council's first legally binding treaty between Arctic nations - although it relates only to cooperation on search and rescue missions in the region. Shale-gas fracking faces French ban When the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland showed people setting their tap water on fire (pictured), it thrust hydraulic fracturing into the spotlight. The technique, also known as Tracking', in which high-pressure fluids are pumped into shale formations to fracture the rock and force out natural gas, has been accused of releasing methane into well water (hence, perhaps, the flammable tap water) and of polluting groundwater with toxic chemicals. Now France could become the first country to ban the practice. On 11 May, the French parliaments lower house voted for a ban; the upper house will vote next month. Several areas in the United States have recently issued moratoriums on fracking, and a panel set up on 5 May by Department of Energy head Steven Chu will report in three months on how to improve its safety. See go.nature.com/wkizub for more.