tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/university-of-lapland-2414/articlesThe University of Lapland2021-09-20T20:08:45Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1666772021-09-20T20:08:45Z2021-09-20T20:08:45ZScientists still don’t know how far melting in Antarctica will go – or the sea level rise it will unleash<p>The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest mass of ice in the world, holding around <a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/about/antarctica/geography/ice/">60%</a> of the world’s fresh water. If it all melted, global average sea levels would rise by <a href="https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/7/375/2013/">58 metres</a>. But scientists are grappling with exactly how global warming will affect this great ice sheet.</p>
<p>This knowledge gap was reflected in the latest <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf">report</a> from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It contains projections from models in which <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03302-y">important processes</a> affecting the ice sheets, known as feedbacks and tipping points, are absent because scientific understanding is lacking.</p>
<p>Projected sea level rise will have widespread effects in Australia and around the world. But current projections of ice sheet melt are so wide that developing ways for societies to adapt will be incredibly expensive and difficult.</p>
<p>If the world is to effectively adapt to sea level rise with minimal cost, we must quickly address the uncertainty surrounding Antarctica’s melting ice sheet. This requires significant investment in scientific capacity.</p>
<h2>The great unknown</h2>
<p>Ice loss from the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/116/4/1095.short">Antarctic</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1855-2">Greenland</a> ice sheets was the largest contributor to sea level rise in recent decades. Even if all greenhouse gas emissions ceased today, the heat already in the ocean and atmosphere would cause substantial ice loss and a corresponding rise in sea levels. But exactly how much, and how fast, remains unclear.</p>
<p>Scientific understanding of ice sheet processes, and of the variability of the forces that affect ice sheets, is incredibly limited. This is largely because much of the ice sheets are in very remote and harsh environments, and so difficult to access.</p>
<p>This lack of information is one of the main sources of uncertainty in the models used to estimate ice mass loss. </p>
<p>At the moment, quantifying how much the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will contribute to sea level rise primarily involves an international scientific collaboration known as the “Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP6”, or <a href="https://www.climate-cryosphere.org/mips/ismip6">ISMIP6</a>, of which we are part.</p>
<p>The project includes experts in ice sheet and climate modelling and observations. It produces computer simulations of what might happen if the polar regions melt under different <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378016300681">climate scenarios</a>, to improve projections of sea level rise.</p>
<p>The project also investigates ice sheet–climate feedbacks. In other words, it looks at how processes in the oceans and atmosphere will affect the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, including whether the changes might cause them to <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/116/30/14887">collapse</a> – leading to large and sudden increases in sea level.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anatomy-of-a-heatwave-how-antarctica-recorded-a-20-75-c-day-last-month-134550">Anatomy of a heatwave: how Antarctica recorded a 20.75°C day last month</a>
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<h2>Melting from below</h2>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0179-y">has identified</a> so-called “basal melt” as the most significant driver of Antarctic ice loss. Basal melt refers to the melting of ice shelves from underneath, and in the case of Antarctica, interactions with the ocean are thought to be the main cause. But gathering scientific observations beneath ice shelves is a major logistical challenge, leading to a dearth of data about this phenomenon.</p>
<p>This and other constraints mean the rate of progress in ice sheet modelling has been insufficient to date, and so active ice sheet models are not included in climate models.</p>
<p>Scientists must instead make projections using the ice sheet models in isolation. This <a href="https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3033/2020/">hinders</a> scientific attempts to accurately simulate the feedback between ice and climate.</p>
<p>For example, it creates much uncertainty in how the interaction between the ocean and the ice shelf will affect ice mass loss, and how the very cold, fresh meltwater will make its way back to global oceans and cause sea level rise, and potentially disrupt currents.</p>
<p>Despite the uncertainties ISMIP6 is dealing with, it has published a series of recent research including a key <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03302-y">paper</a> published in Nature in May. This found if the world met the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C this century, land ice melt would cause global sea level rise of about 13cm by 2100, in the most optimistic scenario. This is compared to a rise of 25cm under the world’s current emissions-reduction pledges.</p>
<p>The study also outlines a pessimistic, but still plausible, basal melt scenario for Antarctica in which sea levels could be <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03302-y">five times higher</a> than in the main scenarios.</p>
<p>The breadth of such findings underpinned sea level projections in the latest <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/">IPCC report</a>. The Antarctic ice sheet once again represented the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03302-y">greatest source of uncertainty</a> in these projections.</p>
<p>The below graph shows the IPCC’s latest sea level projections. The shaded area reflects the large uncertainties in models using the same basic data sets and approaches. The dotted line reflects deep uncertainty about tipping points and thresholds in ice sheet stability.</p>
<p>IPCC reports are intended to guide global policy-makers in coming years and decades. But the uncertainties about ice melt from Antarctica limit the usefulness of projections by the IPCC and others. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-the-most-sobering-report-card-yet-on-climate-change-and-earths-future-heres-what-you-need-to-know-165395">This is the most sobering report card yet on climate change and Earth's future. Here’s what you need to know</a>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418587/original/file-20210831-19-1mbzr16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418587/original/file-20210831-19-1mbzr16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418587/original/file-20210831-19-1mbzr16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418587/original/file-20210831-19-1mbzr16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418587/original/file-20210831-19-1mbzr16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418587/original/file-20210831-19-1mbzr16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418587/original/file-20210831-19-1mbzr16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The IPCC’s projections for global average sea level change in metres, relative to 1900.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IPCC</span></span>
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<h2>Dealing with uncertainty</h2>
<p>Future sea level rise poses big challenges such as human displacement, infrastructure loss, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170118082423.htm">interference with agriculture</a>, a potential influx of <a href="https://www.climate-refugees.org/spotlight/tag/Australia">climate refugees</a>, and coastal habitat degradation. </p>
<p>It’s crucial that ice sheet models are improved, tested robustly against real-world observations, then integrated into the next generation of international climate models – including those being developed in <a href="https://nci.org.au/news-events/news/nci-welcomes-access-nri-funding-announcement">Australia</a>.</p>
<p>International collaborations such as <a href="https://soos.aq/images/soos/activities/endorsement/NECKLACE-web.pdf">NECKLACE</a> and <a href="https://soos.aq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=113">RISE</a> are seeking to coordinate international effort between models and observations. Significant investment across these projects is needed. </p>
<p>Sea levels will continue rising in the coming decades and centuries. Ice sheet projections must be narrowed down to ensure current and future generations can adapt safely and efficiently.</p>
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<p><em>The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Dr Ben Galton-Fenzi, Dr Rupert Gladstone, Dr Thomas Zwinger and David Reilly to the research from which this article draws.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chen Zhao works under the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania. She receives grant funding from the Australian Government as part of the Antarctic Science Collaboration Initiative program (ASCI000002).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rupert Gladstone receives grant funding from the Finnish Government as part of the Coupled Ocean and Land ice Dynamics (COLD) consortium (Academy of Finland grant number 322430).</span></em></p>If the world is to adapt to sea level rise with minimal cost, we must address the uncertainty surrounding Antarctica’s melting ice sheet. This requires significant investment in scientific capacity.Chen Zhao, Research associate, University of TasmaniaRupert Gladstone, Adjunct professor, University of LaplandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/543302016-05-17T19:33:11Z2016-05-17T19:33:11ZDespite gains, Europe’s indigenous people still struggle for recognition<p><em>Australia is being held back by its unresolved relationship with its Indigenous population. Drawing on attempts at reconciliation overseas, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/indigenous-reconciliation">this series of articles</a> explores different ways of addressing this unfinished business. Today, we look at the Saami people of Europe, who live in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.</em></p>
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<p>The Saami (previously known in English as Laplanders) are the only recognised indigenous people of Europe. But they rarely make international headlines. </p>
<p>Unlike most indigenous peoples in the post-colonial world, Saami people don’t live in extreme poverty and aren’t exposed to high levels of violence. But they too have a history of colonisation and discrimination, and tend not to have easy relationships with the four modern states they inhabit. </p>
<p>Although the Saami have made political and legal gains in the past decades, progress is precarious. And recognition of their rights by the governments of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia cannot be taken for granted. </p>
<p>As recently as February 2016, for instance, a small Saami village in Sweden <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/03/sweden-indigenous-sami-people-win-rights-battle-against-state">won a court case</a> against the state after a decades-long battle over hunting and fishing rights, which had been restricted by the national parliament in 1993. </p>
<h2>Difficult relationship</h2>
<p>The Saami established themselves as a distinct ethnic group in Scandinavia around 2,000 years ago. While they’re mostly known as semi-nomadic reindeer herders today, traditionally their livelihood also included hunting, fishing, trapping and farming. </p>
<p>From the Middle Ages onwards, Saami people were pushed further and further north because of migration into the areas they’d occupied. This led to a progressive loss of land as well as access to natural resources. </p>
<p>Attempts were made to convert them to Christianity, and assimilationist policies were adopted in the late 19th century, especially in Norway and Sweden. Saami languages and cultural activities were suppressed and, until the 1960s, many children were placed in <a href="http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/E_C_19_2009_crp1.pdf">boarding schools</a>, where they were forbidden from speaking their native tongue.</p>
<p>Current population estimates vary greatly: there may be between 50,000 and 65,000 Saami in Norway; up to 20,000 in Sweden; around 8,000 in Finland; and 2,000 on the Kola Peninsula in Russia. They encompass nine language groups, but <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/SR/A-HRC-18-35-Add2_en.pdf">this diversity is decreasing</a>. </p>
<p>Today, it’s mostly mining and logging, oil and gas, as well as wind power development projects promoted by the state and private companies that threaten Saami people’s traditional lifestyle, cultural identity and spiritual values – because all are closely connected to the natural environment. Many Saami have also left their homelands to find work in the cities further south.</p>
<h2>Inadequate constitutional protection</h2>
<p>Saami people started to organise themselves politically in the early 20th century. And the first tangible regional initiative to represent their populations in Nordic countries resulted in the creation of the <a href="http://www.saamicouncil.net/en/about-saami-council/">Nordic Saami Council</a> in 1956. </p>
<p>This, along with the influence of international law and the mobilisation of indigenous peoples worldwide, led to important forms of legal recognition in the second half of the 20th century. Still, although the Saami are considered one people, the degree of their recognition varies greatly in the four countries where they live. </p>
<p>In Norway, it was only in the aftermath of attention-grabbling <a href="http://www.jus.uit.no/ansatte/somby/hunger.html">protests against the construction</a> of a major hydroelectric dam on the Alta river that the national constitution was amended (in 1988) to protect Saami culture. But the change didn’t explicitly recognise the Saami as a people, as the constitution of Finland has done since 1995 and the constitution of Sweden since 2010. </p>
<p>Norway added legal protection by ratifying the 1989 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of the International Labour Organisation and by adopting the <a href="http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=244972">Finnmark Act</a> in 2005. The latter recognises that the Saami have – collectively and individually – acquired rights to land in the northeastern part of the country. </p>
<p>Still, some of the constitutional protections given to the Saami lack implementing legislation, and there are no comprehensive guarantees regarding cultural self-determination. The provision in the Swedish constitution is considered to be particularly weak. And the Russian constitution says nothing about the Saami at all. </p>
<h2>Largely symbolic progress</h2>
<p>So-called Saami parliaments have been established in Finland (1973), Norway (1989), and Sweden (1993). These are a positive step towards self-governance, and play an important advisory role for governments. But problems remain: the parliaments have few decision-making powers, and many Saami don’t participate in elections.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16330&LangID=E">Initiatives to address injustices</a> stemming from assimilationist policies include an apology by the Norwegian king in 1997 and the prime minister a couple of years later. Norway has also established a compensation fund. </p>
<p>Overall, constitutional recognition by the Nordic states of their Indigenous people has gone further than in Australia. But, in practice, the legal protection of Saami people is far from satisfactory. The Saami don’t have any real self-determination, and they still lack adequate protection of their culture and lifestyle.</p>
<p>Even though there’s specific legislation to protect Saami languages, as in Finland and Norway, laws are limited or not fully implemented. Access to public education in the Saami language, for instance, is restricted to designated areas. But more than half of the Saami live outside these areas, which means that many children don’t have access to education in their first language.</p>
<p>And while participation by and consultation of the Saami are often legally required for development and exploitation projects that impact the environment, these obligations are not always honoured. All this despite international law increasingly putting forward the importance of free, prior and informed consent by indigenous peoples. </p>
<p>As recently as December 2015, the Finnish government introduced a bill that would radically change the way forests are managed in the country, <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16897&LangID=E">without adequately consulting</a> the Saami. </p>
<p>On the positive side, recent mining legislation in Finland requires consultation with the Saami and sets an obligation to conduct a cultural impact assessment before any mining activities can take place in the Saami homeland.</p>
<h2>Stalled move</h2>
<p>To strengthen and harmonise legal protections given to the Saami in the Nordic countries, efforts have been made in recent years to adopt a <a href="http://www.arcticgovernance.org/the-nordic-sami-convention-international-human-rights-self-determination-and-other-central-provisions.4644711-142902.html">Saami Convention</a>. </p>
<p>This could become the first regional treaty concerning indigenous peoples and would enshrine various rights, including the right to self-determination, Saami language and culture, and land and water, endorsing the principle of free, prior and informed consent. </p>
<p>The convention mirrors the essence of the <a href="http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf">United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>, but it would create even stronger legal obligations for the Nordic states. Unfortunately, negotiations have stalled, and it’s not clear whether the 2005 draft convention will be adopted anytime soon. </p>
<p>A certain degree of recognition of the Saami and reconciliation has arguably been achieved in the Nordic countries, and this could inspire other Indigenous peoples and states in the world. </p>
<p>But Saami people still face significant threats. Clearly, these should be dealt with by listening to the voices of the Saami, and by considering them with respect and as full and equal partners. And by respecting their rights as an indigenous people under international law. </p>
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<p><em>This is the fifth article in our <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/indigenous-reconciliation">series on efforts towards indigenous reconciliation in settler countries around the world</a>. Tomorrow, we turn our gaze to what’s happening in Australia.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elisabeth Roy Trudel receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Doctoral Fellowship). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leena Heinämäki is currently leading a project for the Finnish Government on Actualizing Sámi Rights.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philipp Kastner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Although the Saami have made political and legal gains in the past decades, progress is precarious. And recognition of their rights cannot be taken for granted.Elisabeth Roy Trudel, PhD Candidate in Humanities, Concordia University; Honorary Fellow, UWA Faculty of Law, The University of Western AustraliaLeena Heinämäki, Senior Researcher, University of LaplandPhilipp Kastner, Assistant Professor in International Law, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/520552015-12-11T13:46:58Z2015-12-11T13:46:58ZThe Arctic as we know it is at stake at the Paris climate talks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105487/original/image-20151211-8291-qvbwkh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ilona Mettiäinen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Type “Arctic climate change” into a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1364&bih=605&q=arctic+climate+change&oq=arctic+climate&gs_l=img.3.1.0l7j0i30l2j0i5i30.5009.8770.0.12206.18.14.2.2.2.0.150.1252.8j6.14.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.18.1255.ui-ukMthQXE">Google image search</a> and you’ll see how the issue is largely perceived by the public: stranded polar bears, melting sea ice, icebergs and glaciers.</p>
<p>The anticipated melting of Arctic sea ice has also sparked global interest in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-draw-a-line-in-the-arctic-ice-over-oil-and-gas-18442">oil and gas resources</a> that could be made available as the ice retreats, raising the prospect of a new <a href="https://theconversation.com/northwest-passage-crossed-but-its-not-a-boon-for-business-18853">Northern sea route</a> between Europe and Asia.</p>
<p>Entirely missing from the results of the image search – and to large extent also the discussion – are the people of the Arctic, both indigenous and non-indigenous. </p>
<h2>Indigenous rights and climate change</h2>
<p>It may come as a surprise to many that the Arctic is also home to about four million people, about <a href="http://www.arcticcentre.org/EN/SCIENCE-COMMUNICATIONS/Arctic-region/Arctic-Indigenous-Peoples">10% of them indigenous</a>. In Paris, Arctic indigenous people have been strongly lobbying to have their rights mentioned in the final climate agreement.</p>
<p>For Arctic indigenous people, climate change can be a double-edged sword. A warming world <a href="http://www.arcticinfo.eu/en/features/112-the-paradox-of-reindeer-pasture-management-in-finnmark-norway">threatens their traditional livelihoods</a>, but so do some of plans to fight climate change. </p>
<p>As Aili Keskitalo, President of the Saami Parliament of Norway, told a conference side event in Paris, Saami reindeer pastures are suffering from <a href="http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/annet/sum/SUM4015/h08/Tyler.pdf">worsening snow conditions</a>, but mining the minerals needed for <a href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=tsevJQEydiEC&pg=PA295&lpg=PA295&dq=saami+reindeer+pastures+windmill&source=bl&ots=f5LIMVKJlX&sig=wHBtp5-DfylnONHJBr0DmI4icWQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwg9Lsn9HJAhWDtRoKHWTiAjUQ6AEIPDAF#v=onepage&q=saami%20reindeer%20pastures%20windmill&f=false">wind farms</a>, as well as the wind farms themselves, is also destroying their pastures.</p>
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<h2>Mitigation and adaptation</h2>
<p>Given the existing greenhouse emission levels in the atmosphere, climate change cannot be completely avoided any more. So adaptation to the impacts of climate change is also needed. These impacts vary in different parts of the Arctic.</p>
<p>My ongoing doctoral <a href="https://ulapland.academia.edu/IlonaMetti%C3%A4inen">research</a> suggests that strategic climate change adaptation plans can help identify the most crucial questions for adaptation in each region and, when the people of the region are invited widely to participate in planning as early phase as possible, they become more committed to taking action. </p>
<p>Regional and local-level climate strategies have already made gains in different parts of the world. Finland and other Nordic countries have been active in this, and the <a href="http://www.beac.st/en/About/Barents-region">Barents Euro-Arctic Council</a> – which is concerned with the northern areas of Norway, Finland and Sweden, along with northwest Russia – is working towards <a href="http://www.beac.st/en/About/Barents-region/Climate-Change/Barents-Action-Plan">climate change strategies</a> for all its member regions, which include provisions for indigenous people.</p>
<h2>What happens in the Arctic …</h2>
<p>While the Paris climate talks are discussing how to limit global warming to 2°C or, as some countries have suggested, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-1-5-became-the-most-important-number-at-the-paris-climate-talks-51960">to 1.5°C at most</a>, much higher increases are expected in the Arctic. According to <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/mains1.html">IPCC</a>, average Arctic temperatures have increased almost twice as much as globally in the past 100 years. <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf,%20p.%2045">Depending on the scenario applied</a>, the Arctic in general could warm up more than 6°C degrees by the end of the century. Different parts of the Arctic are expected to warm in different amounts, but up to 3.8°C, or up to 9°C in the central Arctic Ocean, is expected <a href="http://www.acia.uaf.edu/PDFs/ACIA_Science_Chapters_Final/ACIA_Ch04_Final.pdf">in some regions</a>. The changes are also expected hit the Arctic first: it is the canary in the global coalmine.</p>
<p>The consequences of climate change will be devastating for the Arctic but also to the rest of the world, as the melting of Arctic glaciers will lead to rising sea levels elsewhere, endangering coastal cities and small island states.</p>
<p>As a now-popular phrase in the region goes: “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amb-kare-aas/what-happens-in-the-arctic-does-not-stay_b_7445208.html">What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic</a>”. In that sense, what the Arctic has at stake in Paris, the whole world does too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52055/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ilona Mettiäinen is working as doctoral researcher at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Finland. She has received funding for her doctoral research from the multidisciplinary Arctic Doctoral Programme ARKTIS, coordinated by the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland and funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture and the Academy of Finland. Ilona Mettiäinen is an active member of the Arctic Society of Finland. </span></em></p>Think Arctic, think stranded polar bears? There’s more to it than that.Ilona Mettiäinen, PhD student, Researcher, University of LaplandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.