Arctic ice loss highlights climate risk, says UN body
UN body warns of risks to planet and highlights surge in animal poaching
Last year's record shrinkage of Arctic sea ice and a spell of catastrophic droughts, floods and storms highlight the risk to the planet from climate change, the UN Environment Programme (Unep) said on Monday.
In an annual review of the world's environment coinciding with ministerial-level talks in Nairobi, Unep also warned of an alarming surge in elephant and rhino poaching.
In 2012, summer sea ice in the Arctic covered a record low area of 3.4 million square kilometres, which was 18 per cent below the previous recorded minimum in 2007, and 50 per cent below the average in the 1980s and 1990s, Unep said.
Land ice in Greenland also showed signs of melting and permafrost in high latitudes was in retreat, it 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," Unep executive director Achim Steiner said.
He pointed to a rush to extract the oil and gas in the Arctic's seabed as the ice retreats and cautioned that the outcome could be even greater emissions of greenhouse gases.