The WWF charity is challenging ministers from the Arctic Council to demonstrate their commitment to climate change action at their meeting in Washington on April 6th 2009. This meeting celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty.
With new findings clearly demonstrating the need to keep temperature increases well under 2C, the Arctic and Antarctic are now warming up faster than anywhere else on the planet.
A forthcoming report on Antarctic Climate Change is expected to show that to sea level rises have been significantly underestimated, with marine food chains also under threat from the warming in the Antarctic.
Marine Climate Change Officer for WWF-UK, Emily Lewis-Brown, said –
The latest evidence from the Poles shows that the effects of global warming there are increasing in magnitude – sea ice loss and the collapse of ice shelves being the obvious signs. What is happening at the poles will control the world’s climate. If we do not stop the Polar Regions from melting, the whole world will see runaway warming and rising waters. The Ministers meeting today in Washington have a special responsibility to the world – they are the custodians of the poles. This is a vital opportunity for them to show the world that they are ready to step up and shoulder their responsibility to keep the poles frozen. They must commit to taking urgent action and secure a fair and effective Global Deal on climate change at the Copenhagen meeting this December.
The WWF is calling on world leaders to reduce emissions by at least 80% by 2050, giving us a chance of keeping below the 2C cut off point. The warming of the Antarctic is not yet critical, but it is yet another indication that the meltdown of our polar caps continues apace.
