Speaking before an intergovernmental forum Wednesday on the future of the Arctic, Canadian officials vowed “unprecedented industrial development” of the pristine and fragile polar region.

The comments came as the North American country took over chairmanship of the Arctic Council during the group’s biennial gathering in Sweden this week.

The circumpolar states—which hold full membership on the council and include Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States—are convening to “promote cooperation on environmental protection” and discuss such issues as oil and mineral exploitation, shipping, tourism and fishing in the northern region.

Shifting global temperatures and unprecedented melting in the polar region have “boosted international interest,” AFP reports, “as melting ice opens up shipping routes and makes hitherto inaccessible mineral resources easier to exploit.”

“We will not stand by and let the Harper government use the next two years to advance its destructive industrial agenda at the Arctic Council,” said Christy Ferguson of Greenpeace, which staged a concurrent demonstration outside of Canada’s parliament Wednesday calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government to ban oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.

“The Arctic Council should be a forum for preventing environmental disasters like oil spills and fighting climate change—not facilitating them,” she added.

The prospect of development in the Arctic region has brought renewed and widespread interest in the council. This year “observer status” was extended to a number of non-polar countries including China, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea and Italy.

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