Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago opened completely this year for the first time in human memory. By the end of the record-breaking 2007 melt season, a standard ocean-going vessel could have sailed through without any difficulty, reports the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, in the United States.

There is concern that the opening up of the Arctic will have a negative impact on the indigenous people of the region. "There is a real sudden grab for everything up here in the Arctic," according to Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Inuit activist. "What direction are we taking as an Inuit society? How is it we are going to deal with these monumental changes?" It may be some time, though, before the Northwest Passage rivals the Panama Canal. "There are navigational challenges, so many 'ifs' and 'buts' and the idea that you are going to take merchant ships with deep draughts through icy waters that are uncharted, really means that currently it is no match for the canal," commented Simon Bennett of the International Chamber of Shipping in London.

Tavau Teii, deputy prime minister of Tuvalu, addressing the United Nations General Assembly on October 1st, called for a new legal agreement on climate change. He would like to see a pledge for new and substantial emissions reductions by current Parties to the Kyoto Protocol and a wider range of nations, including developing nations, taking on commitments, which may be voluntary.

Tavau Teii also proposed further action on adaptation. "First we must establish a whole new source of funding for adaptation and a new approach on how adaptation funding is managed. A potential new source of funding for adaptation could come from a levy on international aviation and maritime transport," he said. "Second we must establish a global insurance facility to help assist vulnerable countries recover from the impacts of climate change."

Tourism officials and executives from 100 countries have agreed that they must "rapidly respond to climate change," given the threat to the natural resources and tourist activities, and take "concrete measures" to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The declaration was the result of a three-day meeting on tourism and global warming organized by the United Nations, held in Davos, Switzerland.

"The issue of climate change is no longer an issue for the future, it is an issue for today," said Bannve Kuamaitotoya, Fijian Secretary for Tourism. "Pull out tourism and you pull out 60 to 80 per cent of activity in the country," said Michael Nalletamby of the Seychelles tourism board. "The immediate risk is that tourism is demonized for its carbon footprint and regulated because the industry doesn't act to regulate itself," warned Christopher Rodrigues of VisitBritain. Andreas Fischlin of the Institute of Integrative Biology in Zürich, Switzerland, said that "tourism has to contribute to mitigation: it's a cause of the problem and has to take up its share." Measures proposed to cut the emissions included greater energy efficiency, renewable energy, better conservation of natural areas to serve as "earth lungs," technological or design measures to avoid pollution and staff education.