as per www.chinaview.cn, April 13, 2005
posted by Pincas Jawetz for SustainabiliTank.info

China View is part of Xinhua News Agency  www.xinhuanet.com).
The article comes at the end of a five day conference - the first
Climate
and Cryosphere (CliC) International Science Conference held in Beijing.
The participants numbered 300 experts from around the world.

Glaciers and ice caps in an area of 400,000 km2 in the Arctic have
experienced one to two degrees Celsius climate warming in the past 50
years
and it is projected that next century there will be further warming in
the
region of up to 9 degrees Celsius. Sea ice, an indicator of climate
change, has declined by about 3% per decade since 1978, but in recent
years
this decline shows 9%/decade. Ice dependent animals, such as walruses
and
polar bears will be forced to find new habitats and indigenous people
depending on these animals will suffer also.

The conclusion of the meeting - the Arctic region is experiencing twice
as
much temperature growth as in other parts of the world.