Residents face floods, rock slides and ocean life die-off, UN warns

Arctic residents may face floods, waterlogged ground, rock slides and a die-off of ocean life, from algae to polar bears, if the melting of snow and ice continues unchecked.

This spring, sea ice break-up is late in Baffin Island and Nunavik's Ungava Bay. But, overall, Arctic sea ice is shrinking and the flow of water from melting ice sheets and glaciers appears to be speeding up.

The loss of ice and snow means the planet may lose its ability to cool itself off, says a grim, new United Nations report on ice and snow.

"Ice, snow and climate change are closely linked," says Adim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environmental Program, which produced the "Global Outlook for Ice and Snow."

The Earth's polar regions contain most of the world's fresh water, frozen in icesheets and glaciers. But that ice is melting rapidly. The Greenland ice sheet melt doubled during the 1990s and may have doubled again since 2005, says the 238-page report.

A total meltdown of the Greenland ice sheet would trigger an estimated seven-metre rise in sea levels. If 20 per cent of Greenland's ice cap melted, and five per cent of Antarctica's ice cap, sea levels would rise by five metres.

"Changes to them will have dramatic and world wide impacts," says the report.

And some expect sea level increases and ice melt to be even more severe than scientists earlier predicted.

Rising seas could cause flooding that may endanger 145 million people who live near coastlines. Some communities may face the double threat of drowning or dying from thirst as ice sheets and glaciers drain away fresh-water and lakes retreat.

The world now lies dangerously near a "tipping point" of catastrophic, abrupt and unpredictable climate change, says the report.

As sea ice melts, global warming is expected to speed up, because that sea ice acts as a mirror, reflecting heat away from the ocean. Less snowfall may expose more land to warming from the sun. And as permafrost melts, methane, a greenhouse gas, may be released in huge quantities, further increasing temperatures worldwide.

The report's authors call for a "significant and urgent" cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid condemning future generations.

"The missing link is universal political action. Today's report should empower the public to take their leaders to task, should encourage them to ask how much hotter it has to get before we act on a fair and forward-looking emissions reduction deal in Bali this December," said Steiner, who was speaking at the report's launch earlier this week in Tromsø, Norway.

He says most communities are unprepared for the changes ahead from melting ice and snow, and suggests Arctic governments should focus on what the ice retreat will mean for shipping and sovereignty – as well as for communities and wildlife.

The report's release coincided with a series of events taking place in Tromsø, Norway around June 5, World Environment Day.

World Environment Day has been celebrated annually since 1972. Over the years, the day has focused on such issues as acid rain, oceans, water, and green cities. This year's theme was "Melting ice – a hot topic."

In Tromsø, the UN also launched "Tourism in the Polar Regions – The Sustainability Challenge," which raises serious concern that the tourist industry is putting extra pressures on land, wildlife and water.

Tromsø's World Environment Day activities included a rousing call to action by Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu, a South African cleric and Nobel peace prize winner.

Tutu, who rose to prominence during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid in South Africa, spoke in the Cathedral of Tromsø on Sunday.

To highlight World Environment Day's theme, melting sea ice from Norway's High Arctic Svalbard Islands was symbolically placed in the church.

"We must all act if the world is to be saved. We hold the future of this planet in our hands. Choose life," Tutu said.

The Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corp. built the federally-funded facility, which will be operated by the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium and used by scientists studying climate change.

"In the past, we would greet the visiting scientists with a smile and a handshake, and we will continue that spirit in this new building," Barrow elder Kenneth Toovak said at the opening.