Melting Ice – a Hot Topic?

Message for World Environment Day
5th June 2007
Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon

It takes patience to watch ice melt. Some change comes slowly, but in the case of climate change, global warming may be happening faster than we can cope with it. For Inuit and other communities in the far North, melting ice is just what they are faced with, as average temperatures rise, and lives and livelihoods are threatened. Those who fish and travel on the ice are no longer safe in doing so, hunting seasons have shortened, and as the permafrost begins to thaw the tree line is moving North, and changing the habitat and food availability for species like the caribou, upon which the Inuit have long relied.

This melting has important consequences for us all. Global warming is happening most rapidly at the Poles and its knock-on effects include global sea level rise and the potential for further warming as reflective white snow and ice cover gives way to darker, more heat-absorbent, rock and sea.

Many Commonwealth countries are threatened directly by sea-level rise because they are low-lying: The Maldives, with 1,300 tiny islands between 1 and 1.5 metres above mean sea level; Tuvalu which is virtually all below 2 metres above sea level; and Bangladesh which stands to lose about 17 per cent of its territory within 45 years. But those of us that live in estuary and coastal areas are also vulnerable to increased storm surges, flooding and salt encroachment into our drinking water and soils.

Canada has long highlighted the climate-related concerns of its most Northerly communities, and how their own concerns relate to those of other vulnerable communities in small island states. All require a global solution to climate change, but they also need to organise and act locally to adapt to changing conditions. Climate change will have the greatest impact on the poorest countries, and the Commonwealth is using its networks to build skills and share experiences to help these groups to face up to the challenge.

Commonwealth Heads of Government first discussed the threat of climate change and sea level rise in 1989. This February in Nairobi, Commonwealth Environment Ministers broadly agreed a strategy for giving support, especially to smaller and poorer states, to counter the threat.

One of its most practical responses is to place Commonwealth experts in regional environmental bodies in the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, to look at the costs and benefits of different solutions. Supporting these bodies is the best way to help villages, towns, regions and entire countries to develop the plans and skills to adapt to climate change.

Young people have the greatest interest in offering to the debate – and the greatest potential to suffer if there is a lack of it. At all Commonwealth Ministerial Meetings, and specifically at the coming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, young people are asked to debate climate change, as a key part of the process of agreeing the way forward. Likewise, the Commonwealth has convened Parliamentarians to discuss climate change, and work out optimum ways to bridge local and national, national and international debate.

The Commonwealth is also strengthening technical and professional training in climate related areas, for example by bringing climate modelers together with agricultural specialists to examine ways that food security can be maintained as conditions become more arid.

I have a beautiful carving of a polar bear on my desk. Something to inspire me each day. The frozen world of the polar bear is important to us all: we need to act collectively to secure its future.

Notes:

The theme for World Environment Day on the 5th June 2007, is ‘Melting Ice – a Hot Topic?’ It focuses on the effects that climate change is having on polar ecosystems and communities, and the ensuing consequences around the world.

Secretariat Links:

• Enviroment Section

Related Websites:

• World Enviroment Day