COP21: Why are we leaving the Arctic out in the cold? – Nunatsiaq News
“The Arctic has remained largely off the table in over 20 years of climate negotiations”
In September, United States President Barack Obama followed in the footsteps of Stephen Harper, then the prime minister, and traveled north, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to cross the Arctic Circle.
He intended that his trip highlight the consequences of climate change for northern communities, for the North American environment, and for the rest of the world. Climate change is not a future problem: it is already real and affecting the Arctic. Most scientific research strongly supports this observation.
Accordingly, it seems bizarre that the circumpolar Arctic — spanning Canada, the U.S., Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Denmark (through Greenland) — has remained largely off the table in over 20 years of climate negotiations. Why are we leaving the Arctic out in the cold?
