"Although the long-term implications of climate change and the retreating ice cap in the Arctic are still unclear, what is very clear is that the High North is going to require even more of the alliance's attention in the coming years," Scheffer said at a seminar here on the challenges faced by the region.

"I believe NATO has a clear role to play," he said.

"The alliance and Russia have already acquired shared experiences in search and rescue, as well as in disaster management. I believe that these experiences could usefully be built upon, and expanded, to address common challenges in the High North region," he added.

Scientists say the Arctic ice cap is melting as a result of the effects of global warming. Last August US researchers said it saw the second largest summer shrinkage since satellite observations began 30 years ago.

Canada, Russia, Denmark, Norway and the United States claim overlapping parts of 1.2 million square kilometres (460,000 square miles) of Arctic seabed, believed to hold 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves.

International rivalry in the region has heated up in recent years as energy reserves grow scarce in other parts of the world and as the melting polar ice caps make the area more accessible for research and economic activity.

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