Arctic melts while industrialized countries fail to cut CO2 emissions – WWF

The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA)* was produced by more than 250 scientists for arctic governments. It provides incontrovertible proof that climate change is happening in the Arctic and that it will get worse more quickly unless emissions of carbon dioxide are cut. A warmer Arctic will also have impacts around the world, contributing to global warming and sea level rise.

“The big melt has begun,” said Jennifer Morgan, director of WWF’s global climate change campaign. “Industrialised countries are carrying out an uncontrolled experiment to study the effects of climate change and the Arctic is their first guinea pig. This is unethical and wrong. They must cut emissions of CO2 now.”

WWF welcomes the report but highlights the hypocrisy of those governments which sponsored it because they have failed to cut emissions of carbon dioxide. The eight arctic countries emit more than 30 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Key findings in the report are:

o Human-induced changes in arctic climate are among the largest on earth. Warming in the Arctic will be around two or three times greater than the rest of the world.

o Polar bears could become extinct by the end of this century. They are very unlikely to survive as a species if there is an almost complete loss of summer sea ice cover, which is projected to occur before the end of this century by some climate models.

o Some arctic fisheries will disappear.

o New health hazards for both animals and humans are set to appear as the climate warms.

o A warmer climate is also likely to see more forest fires and storm damage to coastal communities in the Arctic.

o Glaciers, sea ice and tundra will melt, contributing to global sea level rise. By the end of the century, sea levels could rise by nearly one meter. A warmer Arctic will contribute up to 15 percent of this rise. Today there are 17 million people living less than one meter above sea level in Bangladesh, while places like Florida and Louisiana in the US, Bangkok, Calcutta, Dhaka and Manila are also are risk from sea level rise.

o The area of the Greenland Ice Sheet that experiences some melting has increased by about 16 percent from 1979 to 2002. The area of melting in 2002 broke all previous records. Global warming could eventually lead to a complete melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and a resulting sea-level rise globally of seven meters although this will take several hundred years.

o A melting Arctic will also accelerate the rate of global climate change. As arctic snow and ice melt, the ability of the Arctic to reflect heat back to space is reduced, accelerating the overall rate of global warming.

o A warmer Arctic could possibly halt the Gulf Stream, which brings warmer water and weather to north-western Europe.

“Polar bears are walking on thin ice,” said Samantha Smith, director of the WWF International Arctic Programme. “If we can secure their future by cutting carbon dioxide emissions, we can secure the future of thousands of other species around the world.”

*Editors’ notes:
The report, Impacts of a Warming Arctic, will be made available from www.panda.org/arctic at 08.00 AM, November 8.
The WWF International Arctic Programme has worked on arctic conservation issues for ten years. Arctic climate experts are available to speak to media on arctic climate change – see contact details below. Visit www.panda.org/arctic for more on the WWF International Arctic Programme.
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) was formally adopted at the Ministerial Conference of the Arctic Council at Point Barrow, Alaska, in 2000. Two of the Arctic Council’s working groups, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) and Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), in association with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), were given the task by the ministers to conduct the ACIA. As specified in the Barrow Declaration, the goal of the ACIA is to “evaluate and synthesize knowledge on climate variability and change and increased ultraviolet radiation, and support policy-making processes and the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.” The assessment is to address “environmental, human health, social, cultural and economic impacts and consequences, including policy recommendations.” More than 250 scientists and six circumpolar indigenous peoples’ organisations have participated in the ACIA. Visit www.acia.uaf.edu or www.arctic-council.org .
The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental forum for addressing many of the common concerns and challenges faced by the arctic states: Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the US. Visit www.arctic-council.org.