The Melting Accelerates
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark at COP15: The time for action is now.
Monday 14 December: Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Per Stig Møller, hosted a COP15 side event entitled "Greenland Ice Sheet - Melting Snow and Ice: Calls for Action" dealing with climate changes in the Arctic and its global consequences. The event was very well-attended above the seating-capacity.
The side event was a joint event between Denmark, Greenland, Norway and former US vice-president Al Gore. The event took as a point of departure the work taking place in the Arctic Council, where Denmark holds the chairmanship 2009-2011. The Arctic Council has just released a major scientific report entitled "Greenland Ice Sheet in a changing Climate" documenting that the ice sheet is melting at a worrying pace. The minister delivered the report to the UN Special Envoy on Climate Issues, Mrs. Gro Harlem Brundtland, who received the report on behalf of the UN Secretary General.
The Report clearly demonstrates that climate change impact the Arctic more severely than other parts of the world with a resulting severe melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Compared with previous experiences, the melting accelerates and contributes to the other climate issues, such as flooding, changed weather and drought. The Minister for Foreign Affairs pointed out that vulnerable ecosystems in the Arctic are also threatened. "Traditional hunting and fishing is threatened as sea mammals and fish change their patterns of migration. The essential wildlife resources necessary to sustain human life in the Arctic are changing their location because of climate change. This will put the living conditions of 4 million Arctic inhabitants directly at risk. We know all this already! We just don't know yet how serious the consequences will be. And we don't know when the consequences will be of such magnitude that they will seriously threaten the fragile communities in the Arctic."
The Minister further stated: "The challenge of climate change is a global challenge, and we must act in a concerted and joint manner in order to combat this challenge."
Climate change also makes its impact known in other places, where ice and snow are found - on Antarctica and the great glaciers in e.g. the Himalayas. In cooperation with Al Gore, Norway has commissioned the compilation of the report called: "Melting Snow and Ice: A Call for Action", that focus on these areas. This report was also presented at the event and handed over to the UN.
You can learn more about the study and the reports and not least see two videos about the Greenland Ice Sheet using the links to The Greenland Ice Sheet in a Changing Climate (GRIS) next to this article.