Extreme heatwave in Siberia

A current extreme heatwave in Siberia is bringing new record temperatures daily. Heat records are being broken... READ MORE

UPDATE Greenland Heatwave

The early warning we issued on May 25th for the first heatwave in #Greenland has occurred on May 31st to June 1st with a temperature anomaly event and high ice melt... READ MORE

NEW – Near Real-time Pan-Arctic Alerts (ARP-PAAS)

The Arctic Risk Platform has a new Pan-Arctic Alert System (PAAS) using operational weather forecasting, satellite and ground observations to deliver updates of a real-time view of unfolding climate extremes. This is... READ MORE

GREENLAND HEATWAVE FORTHCOMING

The first moderate heatwave is forecast for Greenland around June 1,... READ MORE

One of Greenland’s largest glaciers is actively melting from beneath

Below the surface, the Petermann Glacier, one of Greenland's largest, is actively melting--from... READ MORE

COUNTDOWN

CO2 Budget Depletion

UN SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT GOALS

SDG 1 - NO POVERTY

 

The Arctic keeps our planet cool. Loss of Arctic sea ice and snow cover will increase global warming by 2540%. Unchecked, climate change will push as many as 130 million people into poverty over the next decade. Stabilising Arctic change is central to reducing this figure.    

GLOBAL

Global poverty is intricately tied to what happens in the Arctic.

The connection between climate change and its impact on human wellbeing is increasingly visible. Unchecked, climate change will push as many as 130 million people into poverty over the next 10 years – unravelling hard-won development gains – and could cause over 200 million people to migrate within their own countries by 2050 (World Bank, 2022). The Arctic plays an important role in keeping our planet cool because its snow and ice reflects most of incoming solar energy back to space. However, as global warming melts more of the snow and ice, the warming is accelerated. This amplifies the risk of global heatwaves and weather extremes, and leads to reduced labour productivity and pushes even more people into poverty.  

Currently the summer sea-ice cover is only 40% of its size in the 1980s, and springtime snow cover is half what it used to be (Arctic Report Card, 2021). By having less reflective cover, this loss of Arctic sea ice and snow cover drives global heating by 25 to 40 percent (Duan et al., 2019). Climate change can intensify water stress and severely hamper food security in climate-vulnerable regions, which renders locations uninhabitable and thus propels climate migration. In 2017, forced migration reached a peak of 68.5 million people; approximately 35 percent of which were displaced by extreme weather such as floods, tropical cyclones and wildfires (Podesta, 2019). Spread across 17 countries, with Qatar ranking highest, roughly one-fourth of the global population is currently reeling under extreme water stress (WRI, 2019). We are currently (2022) seeing the effects of significant flooding in Pakistan with a yet-to-be-determined financial toll on individuals and the state.

ARCTIC

Arctic Indigenous peoples consistently fall below their country’s poverty line. 

Inuit in the Canadian Arctic are suffering from one of the highest poverty rates globally. Some of the main causes of this poverty are traceable to socioeconomic remnants of European colonisation. These include assimilation politics, limitations in commercial seal trade, expensive food, poor health, and housing shortages (Borgen Project, 2020). Now, climate change is a key driver of poverty among Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic. In Sápmi, for example, changing weather patterns are increasing unseasonal winter precipitation, shifting between snow and rain, creating an ice crust over lichens which ultimately leaves the reindeer to starve or require the reindeer herders to rely on expensive supplementary fodder (Rosqvist, Inga and Eriksson, 2022). Elsewhere, the loss of sea ice affects traditional hunting, shifts in species migration patterns, and transportation issues (the latter also due to permafrost thaw).

BACK TO SDG PAGE

ARCTIC RISK INDICATORS

The following gauges show up-to-date data regarding key indicators in the Arctic. These indicators clearly point to the crisis at hand.

Greenland rate of ice loss
4.5 hundred thousands l/s
on average in 1986-2015
4.5 tons per second
on average in 1986-2015
Worldwide number of disasters
265 disasters
more events in 2022 in comparison to 1970s
183 disasters
more events in 2022 in comparison to 1980s
100 disasters
more events in 2022 in comparison to 1990s
Arctic Sea Ice Extent
605,499 km²
below 1981-2010 average on 04-Jun-2023
233,783 mi²
below 1981-2010 average on 04-Jun-2023
Arctic Amplification
2.82 times
faster than global average in last 30 years
2.57 times
faster than global average in last 50 years
2.54 times
faster than global average in last 70 years
Arctic Wildfire emissions
0.60 megatonnes CO₂e
CO₂e emissions in 2023 so far
Arctic Air Quality (PM2.5)
5.50 microgram per cubic meter
on 05-Jun-2023