Northern ice cap is warming at twice the global rate and that will lead to serious consequences for the planet, according to the eight-nation’s scientific report.
"We are taking a risk with the global climate. The Arctic Ocean could be almost ice-free in summer by the end of the century,” Paal Prestrud, vice-chair of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report, said.
Some computer models project that the Arctic ice pack could disappear completely by the year 2050. But at the rate it's going, much of the ice could pull a summertime disappearing act even sooner, in as little as 20 or 30 years. As a result the devastating effects of climate change, including floods and storms, have become far more familiar.
Arctic nations – United States, Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland – ca’nt find common solution for Arctic policy. The governments will try to break deadlock with a new round of talks in mid-November. United States opposed Kyoto protocol on global warming while Russia joined the treaty.
The Protocol is the major operative outcome of the tortuous and highly contentious global negotiations underway since 1997 as part of the International Framework Convention for Climate Change (IFCCC).