At an international meeting on Arctic policy last week the Trump administration trashed consensus over the words “climate change.”
This is Trahant Reports.
At the ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council in Finland, US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo refused to use the words “climate change” in a joint statement.
Pompeo defined the challenges in the Arctic in largely military and economic terms. “This is America’s moment to stand up, “the Arctic is at the forefront of opportunity and abundance. It houses 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil, 30 percent of its undiscovered gas, and an abundance of uranium, rare earth minerals, gold, diamonds, and millions of square miles of untapped resources. Fisheries galore.”
And the challenges of climate change? “Steady reductions in sea ice are opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade,” Pompeo said. “This could potentially slash the time it takes to travel between Asia and the West by as much as 20 days.
Dalee Sambo Dorough called that refusal by the United States a “moral failure.” She is the International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council which represents 165,000 Inuit in Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Russia. She said: “This is the first time the Arctic Council has failed to issue a declaration at the end of a two-year chairmanship, and it’s a serious blow to the future of what is supposed to be a consensus based body.”
The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet, showing temperature increases twice as large as global averages.
Climate change causes rapidly changing living conditions for 4 million Arctic inhabitants, according to research by the Arctic Council. Hunting, fishing and herding activities are threatened by changes in snow and ice conditions. Traditional livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic are at risk.
So Arctic governments, including Indigenous representatives, have been using the tool of consensus in order to meet the challenges.
“Combating climate change is an urgent common challenge for the international community and requires immediate global action,” the Arctic Council members said in unified statement of one kind or another for more than a decade.
Climate change is not the only issue Indigenous people face in the Arctic. During the Arctic Council ministerial meeting, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference called on governments to “address some of the issues important to us: wildlife management and food security; the infrastructure and social services deficit; physical and environmental health issues, including the horror of suicide; and culture and language protection.”
James Stotts said the Arctic’s Indigenous people should be listened to, both to address the problems facing the region and people as well as potential solutions. “Now is the time, he said, “for a unified response to the threat posed by climate change.”
I am Mark Trahant
