WIREDGOV

As leading scientists meet at the Royal Society in London to discuss the evidence for and global impacts of sea ice decline, Arctic summer sea ice is reported to have reached its sixth lowest level since satellite records began. 

Even taking into account the current regional growth in Antarctic sea ice, our planet has lost approximately 3 million km2 of sea ice over the last 35 years, an area roughly the size of India.  

Rod Downie, WWF UK Polar Programme Manager, said;

“Forecasts predict the continued loss of Arctic sea ice, with the possibility that the Arctic Ocean could be virtually ice-free in the summer within a generation. The whole Arctic sea ice ecosystem is at risk, affecting local peoples' livelihoods. This also leaves polar bears, the icons of the Arctic, at a significant crossroads.  Recent analyses predict that by the middle of this century, two thirds of the world’s polar bear population could vanish due to the rapid loss of the sea ice that they depend upon. 

“As David Cameron  prepares to meet other global leaders at the UN climate change summit in New York, the increased frequency of extreme weather that is predicted for the UK as a result of a warming Arctic should serve as a reminder that we need urgent action now to tackle climate change.”  

Editor's notes

WWF is one of the world’s largest independent conservation organisations, with more than five million supporters and a global network active in more than one hundred countries. Through our engagement with the public, businesses and government, we focus on safeguarding the natural world, creating solutions to the most serious environmental issues facing our planet, so that people and nature thrive.  Find out more about our work, past and present at wwf.org.uk.

Justin Avern | Media Relations Manager, WWF-UK