The Practice to Arctic Environmental Protection Cooperation

The global warming is an obvious trend since last century. In 1990’s the concept was first mentioned by European scientists, and in the following 30 years, more and more researchers, policy makers, and the public have been realizing the global warming’s serious threats to the world. Nowadays, the density of CO2 is increasing rapidly and the average temperature grows faster than the most pessimistic prediction of scientists. IPCC warns that the dramatic climate change will reduce the agriculture yield, lead to the depletion of freshwater resources in continents, increase sea level, and destroy the facilities nearby coast areas.  

In the polar regions, especial in the Arctic, due to the differentiations of heat reflection between sea ice and water, the warming is multiplied which is called ‘Arctic Multiplication’. Today, if you have the chance to visit Svalbard in the summer, the temperature in daytime is above 10 degree and some small glaciers have disappeared permanently. The disappearance of glaciers and sea ice threatens the original ecology in the Arctic, so that some animals, for example polar bear and cold fish will hardly obtain food. 

Since 1980’s the western countries in the Arctic Circle (AC) have been attempting to push the cooperation on Arctic environmental protection. For example, a high level international forum, the Arctic Council was established in 1996 to promote cooperation among Arctic nations on sustainable development. The Barents Euro-Arctic Council and Conference of Parliamentarian of the Arctic Region (CPAR) also include Arctic environmental protection into their goals and agenda. However, even more than 15 international Arctic organizations and forums have been established, only a few of them have substantively promoted international cooperation in Arctic environmental protection. 

The informal forum of 'The Practice toward Arctic Environmental Protection Cooperation' held by IPPA is to introduce and display the practices of the organizations and individuals on Arctic environmental protection, to stimulate the creative thoughts and programs about Arctic environmental protection, and to absorb plenty of resources for these ideas.