Melting ice in the Arctic is causing a ‘rush’ for the very resources that ‘fuelled the melt in the first place’, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The claims were made in UNEP’s Year Book 2013, which found that the Arctic environment could be further damaged by increased human activity as access to resources such as untapped fossil fuels becomes easier due to melting ice.

According to UNEP, recent years have seen pronounced reductions in Arctic ice levels, with a record low of 3.4 million square kilometres being recorded in 2012. This was 18 per cent below the previous nadir of 2007 and 50 per cent lower than the average recorded in the 1980s and 1990s.

One concern regarding the retreating ice, is the opening up of new shipping lanes, which could lead to greater gas and oil exploration and exploitation of natural resources.

With the US Geological Survey estimating that 30 per cent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas lies under the Arctic, UNEP states that Arctic shipping could face over a 40-fold increase, with the Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route being negotiable for longer periods of the year as sea ice melts.

This could put further strain on resources, with UNEP citing ‘one insurance company’ as expecting up to US$100 billion in Arctic investment in the coming decade (mainly in the minerals sector) and predicting that melting Arctic ice could precipitate a dramatic rise in fisheries.

Further, a northward shift in fish species has been detected, which could lead to fish catches rising ‘30 to 70 per cent’ by 2055, thereby increasing the burden on already-threatened fish stocks.

‘The combination of rapid environmental transformation and the rush for resources can interrupt hydrology, endanger ecosystems… and severely disrupt the traditional lifestyles of indigenous peoples’, the report states.

Aside from the potential environmental damage that a rush for resources may entail, UNEP outlines several additional impacts that melting Arctic ice could have on the environment. These include:

• Rising global sea levels;
• Changes to global ocean circulation “with possible major consequences for weather systems globally”; and
• Strains on biodiversity, with habitats disappearing and life cycles synchronised to seasonal ice melts being disrupted

Improved environmental governance ‘crucial’

The report states that cutting greenhouse gas emissions remains a key priority for tackling these potential hazards.

‘To avoid irreversible damage to this fragile environment, a precautionary approach to economic development is warranted. As climate change dominates the current transformation of the Arctic environment, curbing greenhouse gas emissions remains critical’, the report finds.

Adding that ‘no steps to exploit the new environmental state of the Arctic should be taken without first assessing how the exploitation would affect ecosystems, the peoples of the North and the rest of the world’, UNEP warns that the Arctic Council (the core of which is formed by Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States) now has a ‘crucial’ role to play in ensuring any resource exploitation is done ‘responsibly’.

‘The need for improved [environmental] governance is all the more crucial now, as the retreat of sea ice has been more rapid than projected in the last report from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). That report predicted that the Arctic could be ice-free by 2100, but the most-common prediction today is that this could come to pass by 2035.

‘Effective governance is the key to sustainable development of the Arctic. The fate of its ice and snow, frozen land and open waters, along with its wildlife and peoples, crucially depends on how the world addresses climate change and the resulting changes in human activities’, it concluded.

Exploiting ‘vast untapped reserves’ has ‘consequences’

Speaking on the release of the report, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said: “Changing environmental conditions in the Arctic – often considered a bellwether for global climate change – have been an issue of concern for some time, but as of yet this awareness has not translated into urgent action.

“In fact, what we are seeing is that the melting of ice is prompting a rush for exactly the fossil fuel resources that fuelled the melt in the first place.

“As the UNEP Year Book 2013 points out, the rush to exploit these vast untapped reserves have consequences that must be carefully thought through by countries everywhere, given the global impacts and issues at stake.”

The Year Book comes just two months after think tank Chatham House issued a report warning that the world is going through a period of resource insecurity, and arguing that unless governments work together, economies, environments and populations could be greatly affected.

‘The blindness of standard policy prescriptions to resource politics could worsen the future outlook and undermine sound economic choices’, the report stated, adding that it is ‘critical to manage perceptions, expectations and fears of resource scarcity in a collaborative manner’.

The UNEP Year Book 2013 was launched at a UNEP meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, where a banquet was being held for delegates using food rejected from European supermarkets.

Read UNEP’s Year Book 2013.