Page 29 - Microsoft Word - geo class task.docx

Earlier this month, scientists reported that the level of warming in the Arctic was
“​completely unprecedented​” and that Arctic ice is melting much faster than previously thought.
That has serious consequences for people and ecosystems in the region, and it makes the
responsibility to protect the Arctic’s increasingly open waters even more urgent.

The region is already open to the risk of offshore drilling for oil and gas as well as commercial
fishing fleets trawling the ocean, and melting sea ice only creates more opportunities for this

type of destruction.

Due to the highly specialised flora and fauna in the region, the ecosystems present are
much less resilient than those in other areas in the world. This means that with even minor
changes, one small environmental pressure could wipe out the entire food web. This has been
seen, for example, with the polar bears found on the arctic ice.

Case Study: Polar bear

National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen captured a photo of an emaciated, deceased
polar bear last summer. This photograph, along with another photo of an exceptionally skinny
polar bear that went viral in late August, would seem to speak to the dangers that global
warming poses to the iconic species.

Rapid sea ice loss is depriving polar bears of their habitat, since they depend on the ice to hunt
prey. Ice loss has been particularly noteworthy in recent years in northwestern Svalbard, says