Northern Countries to Grow and Thrive

A University of California LA geographer notes in book that northern countries such as Canada, Scandinavia and Russia are likely to thrive and become formidable economic powers.

Laurence C. Smith writes in “The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilizations Northern Future” that northern countries and some northern states of the US will become large economic powers and migration magnets.

“In many ways, the New North is well positioned for the coming century even as its unique ecosystem is threatened by the linked forces of hydrocarbon development and amplified climate change,” writes Smith, a UCLA professor of geography and of earth and space sciences.

Smith also makes several other predictions which the UCLA note below;

New shipping lanes will open during the summer in the Arctic, allowing Europe to realize its 500-year-old dream of direct trade between the Atlantic and the Far East, and resulting in new access to and economic development in the north.

Oil resources in Canada will be second only to those in Saudi Arabia, and the country’s population will swell by more than 30 percent, a growth rate rivaling India’s and six times faster than China’s.

NORCs will be among the few place on Earth where crop production will likely increase due to climate change.

NORCs collectively will constitute the fourth largest economy in the world, behind the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), the European Union and the United States.

NORCs will become the envy of the world for their reserves of fresh water, which may be sold and transported to other regions.

Read more about what Smith has to say at the UCLA website, but this book is definitely on my to read list.

Source: UCLA