Posted on 26 June 2009
- In an attempt to highlight rapidly melting
summer sea-ice in the Arctic, an expedition
will attempt to sail through the
Northeast Passage of the Russian Arctic
in a single summer, a trip that took over
two years to complete when first attempted
in 1839.
The expedition, led
by the Swedish/Norwegian polar explorer
Ola Skinnarmo will receive assistance from
WWF in documenting the incredible pace of
change in the region.
“The Arctic is melting
fast. The summer sea ice extent has decreased
by 40 percent since the 70s and may be completely
gone within a generation,” says Neil Hamilton,
director for the WWF International’s Arctic
Programme.
“WWF supports the expedition
to document the state of the environment
and highlight impacts of climate change
on the arctic ecosystems, and importantly
to communicate the need for urgent action
to address greenhouse gas emissions at the
UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
in December.”
Hamilton will join the
first half of the expedition, while WWF’s
polar bear coordinator Geoff York will participate
in the latter half.
The famous Swedish/Finnish
explorer Nordenskiöld first completed
the voyage some 130 years ago, as he voyaged
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through
the North-East Passage.
At that time his ship
was stuck in the ice for 10 months, but
due to climate change, it is now possible
to challenge the passage in one summer in
a sailboat, without the support of an icebreaker.
“The arctic marine ecosystem
depends on the ice for its survival. Polar
bears need the ice to be able to hunt their
primary food, seals. The seals in turn need
the ice to give birth to their pups and
the ice supports their primary prey - Arctic
cod,” says York.
“Decreasing sea ice
in the Arctic will cause hardship throughout
the arctic food web - including impacts
to arctic peoples, destabilizing a system
that is already sensitive due to the comparatively
low number of species.”
Both Neil Hamilton and
Geoff York will be blogging and documenting
the trip through photos and film.
The sights of this little-visited
part of the world will be made accessible
through photographs and blogs sent directly
from the boat.
+ More
Match or better Brown,
WWF urges wealthy world
Posted on 26 June 2009
- Gland, Switzerland: WWF has welcomed fresh
financial commitments on climate change
from UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown as “having
the potential to get some movement back
into the negotiations”.
Recent climate talks
in Bonn, Germany made little progress over
deep divisions on who would be cutting emissions
and by how much and where the funding for
climate change mitigation and adaptation
in developing countries would come from.
Announcements of inadequate
carbon emissions cuts in Japan and proposals
that would effectively see Russian emissions
increase had also added to the gloom over
the negotiations, which need to reach an
adequate global agreement capable of avoiding
unacceptable risks of catastrophic climate
change at a UN conference in Copenhagen
in December.
“WWF welcomes the UK’s
manifesto for Copenhagen and in particular
the significant boost to the level of actual
finance being mentioned,” said Kim Carstensen,
leader of the WWF global climate deal campaign.
“We are getting towards the right magnitude
of funds if not quite yet to the right amounts.
“It is especially good
that a G8 nation is stepping up and trying
to break the logjam on international finance.
The challenge is now on other developed
countries to step up at the forthcoming
G8 meeting and show how they would match,
or preferably better, Brown."
Carstensen said WWF
was still waiting on the details but there
was much to approve of in the Prime Minister’s
speech, including the need for more developing
country influence in governance structures
and the inclusion of aviation and shipping.
“We do, however have
some reservations on the extent of reliance
on the carbon market as a source of funds,
not least because this will only work with
much, much tougher targets for emissions
reductions for developed nations than are
currently on the table,” Carstensen said.
