Hundreds of millions to suffer from melting ice, UN warns
Pastor Dale Morgan
Hundreds of millions to suffer from melting ice, UN warns*
TROMSOE, Norway, June 4 (AFP) Jun 04, 2007
The melting of the Earth's ice has accelerated in recent decades, an
alarming phenomenon that could affect hundreds of millions of people
across the world, the United Nations warned in a report on Monday.
"The futures of hundreds of millions of people across the world will be
affected by declines in snow cover, sea ice, glaciers, permafrost and
lake ice," the Global Outlook for Ice and Snow report, published on the
eve of World Environment Day, said.
"Impacts are likely to include significant changes in the availability
of water supplies for drinking and agriculture, rising sea levels
affecting low lying coasts and islands and an increase in hazards such
as subsidence of currently frozen land," it said.
The Arctic ice sheet has shrunk by six to seven percent in winter and by
10 to 12 percent in summer over the past 30 years, the report said.
The snow-covered regions of the northern hemisphere have reduced by
between seven and 10 percent during March and April during the same
period, according to the report presented by the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP).
The melting of the ice and snow is not only a consequence of global
warming, it is also an accelerating factor, researchers presenting the
report in the Norwegian Arctic town of Tromsoe said.
"Snow and ice reflect 70 to 80 percent of the sun's energy, whereas
water absorbs it. If snow and ice continue to melt, this will amplify
global warming," report author Paal Prestrud told journalists.
"Six and a half billion people on this planet have built their way of
life... around a certain reality. This reality is changing even more
rapidly than expected," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner added.
The acceleration process also makes it more difficult to anticipate
future developments, he said.
"(This process) is of such magnitude that our ability to predict the
future is severely constrained," Steiner told AFP.
"This means that the adaptation process of coping with climate change is
potentially so far-reaching in terms of economic costs and consequences
that we have to act now," he added.
For instance, an estimated 40 percent of the world's population could be
affected by the loss of snow and glaciers on the mountains of Asia,
according to researchers.
Many rivers of the continent, such as the Ganges, the Brahmaputra or the
Mekong, rise in the Himalayas and less ice and snow would mean less
water for drinking and agriculture.
Rising sea levels would affect low-lying coasts and islands, something
of particular concern for countries such as Bangladesh and Indonesia.
"We have begun to understand how vital ice and snow are for our
societies. In Italy the reduction in snow means less water in the rivers
which means power stations have to be shut down," Steiner said.
The report also feared that melting ice and snow could trigger more
abrupt climatic changes, such as hurricanes and floods, with
wider-ranging impacts on people, economies and wildlife.
Melting ice and snow were considered more likely to increase hazards
such as avalanches and floods from the build-up of potentially unstable
glacial lakes.
Rising temperatures and the thawing of permafrost, or frozen land, were
also triggering the expansion of existing lakes and the emergence of new
lakes and rivers in places like Siberia.
"If the permafrost thaws, it will (further) amplify global warming and
will change current sea levels," Prestrud said.
"Existing indigenous species would disappear because they can't leave
the region. New species would come in, migrating from the south," he added.
The polar bear is, for example, expected to become extinct if the ice
melts completely.
Some communities are already adapting to climate change. Hunters in
parts of Greenland are abandoning traditional dogsleds in favour of
small open boats as a result of less predictable sea ice.
"Snow and ice are continuing to decline because of human activity. They
will continue to do so if greenhouse gases continue to be emitted,"
Prestrud warned.