Global Warming
Will Decimate
Arctic Peoples
By Stephen Leahy
11 September , 2004 by the
Inter Press Service
BROOKLIN,
Canada - Climate change will soon make the Arctic regions of the world
nearly unrecognisable, dramatically disrupting traditional Inuit and
other northern native peoples' way of life, according to a new report
that has yet to be publicly released.
The dire predictions
are just some of the findings by the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
(ACIA), an unprecedented four-year scientific investigation into the
current and future impact of climate change in the region.
"This assessment
projects the end of the Inuit as a hunting culture," said Sheila
Watt-Cloutier, chairwoman of the group that represents about 155,000
Inuit in the Arctic regions of Canada, Russia, Greenland, and the United
States.
The report predicts
the depletion of summer sea ice, which will push marine mammals like
polar bears, walrus and some seal species into extinction by the middle
of this century, Watt-Cloutier told IPS.
The assessment was
commissioned by the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental body involving
the eight Arctic nations -- Canada, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland,
Norway, Russia, and the United States.
The Inuit and other
Arctic peoples also participate in the Council and contributed to the
ACIA report, along with over 600 hundred scientists from around the
world. Although complete, it will not be made public or presented to
governments until after the U.S. presidential elections at a conference
in Reykjavik, Iceland, Nov. 9-12.
The impacts of climate
change are already widely felt in the Arctic. Thawing permafrost --
the normally perpetually frozen layer of earth -- has collapsed roads
and buildings. Unexpectedly thinner sea ice and small streams that have
become raging rivers has led to several drownings in recent years, according
to Watt-Cloutier.
"Our traditional
wisdom on how to survive and thrive on the land is becoming useless
because everything is changing and changing fast."
Alaska experienced
its warmest and driest summer ever this year, Patricia Anderson of the
ACIA Secretariat University of Alaska said in an interview. Temperatures
soared 10 degrees C. above normal and millions of hectares of forest
burned in the worst wildfires ever recorded, following several recent
years with major fires.
And now the state
is facing infestations from the spruce budworm, a tree-eating insect
that had only plagued southern forests previously.
"It used to
be too cold for it up here," Anderson noted.
Unable to provide
details on the report itself, Anderson confirmed that the report documents
that these are not just unusual events but are in fact trends.
"Sea ice will
continue to get thinner, there will be much more melting of permafrost
and more coastal erosion due to stronger storm surges."
Inuit people will
be unable to continue living off the land in the future and the changes
are coming so fast they won't be able to adapt, she said. "These
are the results of climate change."
The Arctic is warming
twice as fast as anywhere else because of global air circulation patterns
and natural feedback loops such as less ice reflecting sunlight, leading
to increased warming at ground level and more ice melt.
Computer projections
by the ACIA show that trend will continue with the Arctic warming by
an average of 6 degrees C by the end of the century -- even if the Kyoto
Protocol commitments to reducing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide
go into effect on a global scale.
And yet things could
be even worse. Scientists deliberately selected moderate projections
to avoid controversy, Anderson said.
"The rest of
the world needs to pay attention to what's happening in the Arctic because
it's acting as an early warning barometer for what will happen in the
rest of the world," said Watt-Cloutier.
If that's not reason
enough, another key finding in the ACIA report, Anderson said, is the
concern that the melting of Arctic ice and snow will dump enough fresh
water into the Arctic ocean to slow or shut down the vital North Atlantic
Ocean conveyor current.
This conveyor current
brings warm tropical waters north and moderates temperatures in eastern
North America and Europe. Large volumes of fresh water spilling out
of the Arctic ocean could slow its northward movement, leading to an
abrupt climate shift where the region would experience much cooler temperatures
in just a few years time.
Some scientists
have detected signs that this may be already starting to happen.
Despite the alarming
evidence, there is little good news when it comes to taking action on
climate change. Carbon dioxide emissions are climbing globally, including
by the biggest contributor, the United States.
"The Bush administration
doesn't believe there's a problem and are behind the delay in the release
of the report," said Gordon McBean, an ACIA participant from the
Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction at the University of Western
Ontario. "They don't even think they ought to reduce their emissions,
period."
But to truly reduce
the impact on the Arctic, global emissions have to be reduced by a whopping
50 percent before the year 2050, McBean told IPS.
The Kyoto Protocol,
which has not been ratified in the seven years since it was created
because the United States and Russia, among others, will not support
it, would reduce emissions a mere 5 percent by 2012.
"Kyoto was
just a first step, we need a strategy to get to a 50 percent reduction,"
McBean said.
Even Canada, which
strongly supports Kyoto and emissions reductions, has done little to
reduce its own pollution, he said.
Government inaction
on climate change by Canada and the United States is due in large part
to the failure of the general public to apply pressure on the issue,
says Watt-Cloutier.
"People don't
seem to understand that what they do on a daily basis has a direct impact
on the people and wildlife of the north," she said, adding that
she hopes people will begin to see that their actions -- their choice
of vehicle, for example -- can produce negative consequences for others
and future generations.
"People do
want to do the right thing, but they just don't realise that the Arctic
is melting and they are responsible," she said.
© Copyright
2004 IPS - Inter Press Service