Arctic states agree small steps to slow thaw

[senorpepr]

Eight Arctic countries have agreed on small steps to brake a rapid thaw of the region with Indigenous peoples accusing the US of blocking stronger action meant to slow global warming.

The United States, Russia, Canada and the five Nordic states, which all have territories in the Arctic, have agreed to encourage "effective measures" to adapt to climate change.

However, they have stopped short of promises or timetables.
Ministers noted "with concern" a report by 250 scientists this month warning that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average, threatening to wipe out species like polar bears by 2100 and undermining Indigenous hunting cultures.

"We all need to intensify efforts against pollution in the Arctic," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Indigenous peoples, some nations and environmentalists had wanted the ministers to urge drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from cars and factories, which are blamed for a warming that could melt the ice around the North Pole in summer by 2100.

"In terms of what the planet needs, this is far from enough," Sheila Watt-Cloutier, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, said.

The conference says it represents 155,000 people in Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia.
Mr Watt-Cloutier says a seven-page policy document was more than she had expected from the consensus-based Arctic Council.

Another delegate, who asked not to be named, quipped: "The only thing this declaration lacks is teeth."
The US refused to sign up for caps in emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide favored by other states.
The United States is the only one of the eight outside the 128-nation UN Kyoto protocol on curbing global warming.

"The United States is like an ostrich burying its head in the sand," chief Gary Harrison of the Arctic Athabaskan Council, which represents thousands of people in Canada and Alaska, said.

He urged Washington to act to stop a melt.
But Paula Dobriansky, US under secretary for Global Affairs, has rebuffed the criticisms.
"We base our policies on science and we will take the findings [of the report] into account," she said.
She says that the US has "a vibrant national program" to offset climate change, noting US spending of $US5.8 billion on projects including renewable energies.