Arctic - evidence of global warming

Life is harsh on the frozen Harstad territory of the Arctic Circle where Anna Prakhova is living. However, life can be much tougher when snow no longer falls.

Arctic Circle (red line)

In recent years, snow has no longer fallen as usual on large areas of desolate land, occasionally dotted with some pine and bulo trees. Prakhova, the team leader representing indigenous people in Russia and Nordic countries, said: "We are witnessing real climate change ."

More evidence of climate change

Many experts believe that people are pushing global temperatures up. This evidence is increasingly evident, reflected in the shrinking Arctic ice sheet and warming of the Indian Ocean. According to a survey by NASA and the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, in September 2005 the polar ice sheet narrowed to its lowest level in 100 years. A survey this year by US scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography showed that the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans are warming in recent decades.

Across the tundra of Harstad, less cold winters helped some pests multiply, such as beetles and pests. These creatures are destroying the Arctic forests. In northern Russia, frogs are often seen on this tundra and some birds do not migrate as before.

Prakhova is very worried about what is happening. She said the reindeer that the Sami people (Sami people living in Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway) often kept in danger when the snow did not fall in the winter. "Cold snow for humans is a soft winter bed for reindeer ," Prakhova said. The lack of snow also makes reindeer difficult to eat because it can be covered by hard ice. The ice will cut off the soft snout of reindeer.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will certainly give stronger warnings in the 2007 report: greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, factories and vehicles are being made. reversing the climate. The increasing popularity of scientists has also increased pressure on governments to come to climate talks in Montreal, Canada from November 28 to December 9. The goal is to motivate them to do more to solve a problem that could cost trillions of dollars to overcome in the coming decades. 10,000 delegates to Montreal will discuss how to prevent climate change, especially after 2002 when the Kyoto Protocol expired.

Who to blame?

Paal Prestrud, director of the International Center for Environment and Climate Research in Oslo (Norway), said: "There is growing evidence that people are affecting the climate ." The IPCC also concluded in its final report in 2001: "There is new, stronger evidence that human activity has caused most of the warming phenomenon in the last 50 years ." Much of the research since 2001 has also weakened theories: the change in the activity of the sun, volcanic dust or heat from cities is the main cause of temperature rise, not because CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels.

Albert Klein Tank of the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute said: '' Based on the published new research, we can say that there is clearer evidence of human impact on the climate . ' One of the scientists involved in drafting the IPCC report in 2007.

However, there is still uncertainty about the impact of global warming. IPCC reports say climate change can cause more powerful storms, more heat waves, droughts and an increase in sea level by almost 1 meter by 2100. Other scientists give that people will be able to adapt to changes and assume that IPCC forecasting models may be wrong. For example, they point out a long-standing controversy: whether the temperature in the atmosphere increases more slowly than the surface. Professor John Christy of the University of Alabama said: "I don't see the catastrophic effects of global warming that others anticipate. Perhaps when the surface temperature is warmer, the atmosphere is able to release heat into space in a way that climate models do not take into account . "

Environmentalists say the evidence that humans warm up the Earth could help bring lawsuits against indifferent countries in this regard. Environmentalists often criticize the US and Australia. These two countries are the rich countries, not participating in the Kyoto Protocol - the decree requires countries to reduce fossil fuel use and switch to clean energy sources like wind and sun. President Bush withdrew from the protocol in 2001 with Kyoto being too expensive and eliminating poor countries in the first cut. He said that more research is needed and a strong investment in hydrogen-like technology.

While people are still arguing, time does not wait for Prakhova - one of the people who live in the 'front line' of climate change. A report of 250 experts at the end of 2004 showed that the Arctic was warming at a rate twice as fast as the global. That can push bears to the brink of extinction and the Arctic Sea is no longer ice in the summer of 2100.

Minh Son ( synthesized )