Confirmed: 2023 set to be the warmest year on record

The WMO provisional State of the Global Climate report confirms that 2023 is set to be the warmest year on record, regardless of the final two months of... READ MORE

Colossal Antarctic iceberg, five times larger than New York City, breaks free and drifts away from region

On November 24th, scientists from the Bristish Antarctic Survey (BAS) were astonished to observe an iceberg measuring around 4,000 square kilometers (more than twice the size of Greater London) drifting away from the... READ MORE

World surpasses critical warming threshold for the first time

On November 17th, global temperatures reached 2.07°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time on record.... READ MORE

Unexpected disintegration of ice shelves in North Greenland

Alarm bells ringing as rapid disintegration and weakening of ice shelves in North Greenland is observed!... READ MORE

Three Icebergs break off West Antarctica’s most Endangered Glacier

Images recently posted in the Arctic Sea Ice Forum reveal three significant breakups, or calving events, in mid-October on Pine Island Glacier’s floating ice shelf in West... 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. Check the latest data related to the Arctic.

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 people 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).

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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
13 million l/s
on average
13 million tonnes/s
on average
Arctic Sea Ice Extent
1,404,499 km²
below 1981-2010 average on 30-Nov-2023
542,277 mi²
below 1981-2010 average on 30-Nov-2023
Arctic Amplification
4 times
faster than global average
Arctic 66N+ Wildfire emissions
25,092.70 megatonnes CO₂e
CO₂e emissions in 2023 so far
Arctic Air Quality (PM2.5)
1.28 microgram per cubic meter
on 01-Dec-2023
Global mean Sea Level
3.4mm/year
since 1993