Arctic Thaw Threatens People, Polar Bears
Nov. 8, 2004
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming (news - web sites) is
heating the Arctic almost twice as fast as the rest of
the planet in a thaw that threatens millions of
livelihoods and could wipe out polar bears by 2100, an
eight-nation report said on Monday.
The biggest survey to date of the Arctic climate, by 250
scientists, said the accelerating melt could be a
foretaste of wider disruptions from a build-up of human
emissions of heat-trapping gases in the earth's
atmosphere.
The "Arctic climate is now warming rapidly and much
larger changes are projected," according to the Arctic
Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA), funded by the United
States, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway
and Finland.
Arctic temperatures are rising at almost twice the
global average and could leap 4-7 Celsius (7-13
Fahrenheit) by 2100, roughly twice the global average
projected by U.N. reports. Siberia and Alaska have
already warmed by 2-3 C since the 1950s.
Possible benefits like more productive fisheries, easier
access to oil and gas deposits or trans-Arctic shipping
routes would be outweighed by threats to indigenous
peoples and the habitats of animals and plants.
Sea ice around the North Pole, for instance, could
almost disappear in summer by the end of the century.
The extent of the ice has already shrunk by 15-20
percent in the past 30 years.
"Polar bears are unlikely to survive as a species if
there is an almost complete loss of summer sea-ice
cover," the report said. On land, creatures like
lemmings, caribou, reindeer and snowy owls are being
squeezed north into a narrower range.
FOSSIL FUELS BLAMED
The report mainly blames the melt on gases from fossil
fuels burned in cars, factories and power plants. The
Arctic warms faster than the global average because dark
ground and water, once exposed, traps more heat than
reflective snow and ice.
Klaus Toepfer, head of the U.N. Environment Program,
said the Arctic changes were an early warning. "What
happens there is of concern for everyone because Arctic
warming and its consequences have worldwide
implications," he said.
And the melting of glaciers is expected to raise world
sea levels by about 10 cm (4 inches) by the end of the
century.
Many of the four million people in the Arctic are
already suffering. Buildings from Russia to Canada have
collapsed because of subsidence linked to thawing
permafrost that also destabilizes oil pipelines, roads
and airports.
Indigenous hunters are falling through thinning ice and
say that prey from seals to whales is harder to find.
Rising levels of ultra-violet radiation may cause
cancers.
Changes under way in the Arctic "present serious
challenges to human health and food security, and
possibly even (to) the survival of some cultures," the
report says.
Farming could benefit in some areas, while more
productive forests are moving north on to former tundra.
"There are not just negative consequences, there will be
new opportunities too," said Paal Prestrud, vice-chair
of ACIA.
Scientists will meet in Iceland this week to discuss the
report. Foreign ministers from Arctic nations are due to
meet in Iceland on Nov. 24 but diplomats say they are
deeply split with Washington least willing to make
drastic action.
President Bush (news - web sites) pulled the United
States out of the Kyoto protocol in 2001, arguing its
curbs on emissions were too costly and unfairly excluded
developing nations.
The White House said it would not comment on Monday's
findings and but would await the full report next year.
"This is one draft of a report that has yet to be
finished," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said.
Norwegian Environment Minister Knut Hareide, a strong
backer of Kyoto, said the protocol is only a first step.
"The clear message from this report is that Kyoto is not
enough. We must reduce emissions much more in coming
decades."
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