Surrounding the geographic North Pole is a deep, ice-covered ocean, the Arctic Ocean, which is bordered by the nothern parts of the continents of North America, Europe, and Asia. This is the Arctic region. Period of continuous daylight alternate with periods of continuous darkness for days to months at a time. It is very cold. Despite the fact that it is cold, it is not like the Antarctica where there are no inhabitants. People have been living in Arctic for thousands of years. Arctic is full of natural resources and has a suitable climate for living things to inhabit in. Therefore, the Arctic region is politically, scientifically and economically important.
Measured in many ways, the boundaries of Arctic is sometime defined as the area north of the Arctic Circle, an imaginary line around the globe at 66° 30'(66 degrees, 30 minutes) north latitude. There are other ways of determining the region's limits. These includes the tree line, which is the most northerly point at which trees grow and the extent of the polar sea ice and of permafrost, or land that is permanently frozen.
These economic and military endeavors have not gone unchallenged, however. Environmental organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council in the United States, Social Ecological Union in Russia, and the large international association, Greenpeace, all have national and regional offices with active lobbying staffs. Whether operating separately or in coordinated efforts with indigenous and other groups, these organizations regularly challenge governmental legislation, corporate or military appropriation, that is perceived as threatening the preservation of wildlife refuges and other environmental treasures. From their perspective, the future of arctic wildlands can be assured only if the forces advocating oil, gas, and other nonrenewable resource development in their regions of concern are soundly defeated.