Arctic

The Arctic is the area around the Earth's North Pole. The Arctic includes parts of Russia, Alaska (United States), Canada, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Iceland, and Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, and Finland), as well as the Arctic Ocean.

The changing Arctic

Along with increasing utilization, it is likely that in the coming decades, new investments, industry and building an infrastructure as well as the increasing mobility of goods, services, people and capital are to be expected. These will all have an effect on the environment of the region and on the local conditions of the population and indigenous peoples.

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The above-described global change is expected to have the overwhelmingly large impact in the near future on the diversity of nature and cultures in the arctic and northern regions and on the recreational value of the Arctic and its natural resources. The impacts from the changes will reflect in many ways on the ecosystems of the region, its biodiversity, livelihoods, social and legal structures and indirectly on almost all life in the region.

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The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA), released in November 2004, details some of the future scenarios for long-term climate change that are already begining to be seen in the Arctic region today.

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The current state of the Arctic ecosystems and climate are tracked on the near-realtime Arctic Change Indicators website. A narrative style is used to highlight land and marine ecosystems, the cryosphere, Arctic and sub-Arctic human impacts, and an overall summary evaluates recent reports against historical information.

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External links:

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• ACIA Report
• Arctic Change Indicators website - NOAA website provides information on the present state of Arctic ecosystems and climate in historical context.