- Many Arctic animals, including polar bears and some seal
species, could be extinct within 20 years because of global warming, a
conservation group said yesterday.
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- Traditional ways of life for many indigenous people in
the Arctic would also become unsustainable unless the world "takes
drastic action to reduce climate change", said the conservation organisation
WWF.
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- "If we don't act immediately the Arctic will soon
become unrecognisable" said Tonje Folkestad, a WWF climate change
expert. "Polar bears will be ... something that our grandchildren
can only read about in books."
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- By 2026, the earth could be an average 2C (3.6F) warmer
than it was in 1750, according to research to be presented to a conference
on climate change in Exeter this week.
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- "In the Arctic this could lead to a loss of summer
sea ice, species and some types of tundra vegetation, as well as to a fundamental
change in the ways of life of Inuit and other Arctic residents," the
organisation said in a statement.
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- The total area covered by summer sea ice in the Arctic
is already decreasing by 9.2% a decade, and would "disappear entirely
by the end of the century" unless the situation changes.
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- "If ... unique ecosystems like the Arctic are not
[to be] lost, the G8 meeting must take drastic action to reduce climate
change," said Catarina Cardoso, a WWF expert.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2005
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/
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