OUR PLANET MAGAZINE
CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE CRYOSPHERE
5
a serious
challenge
Message of HM King Harald V
of Norway
Norway is honoured to have been chosen by the United Nations Environment
Programme to host the international celebrations of the World Environment
Day in 2007. This annual event is an important recognition of today's global
interdependence and the responsibility that we all share for securing human
welfare today and tomorrow.
As a Polar nation, Norway hopes that the official World Environment Day
slogan Melting Ice: a hot topic? will inspire a range of activities and events
all over the world. Man-made global warming -- as illustrated by melting ice
-- is one of the most serious challenges shared by the world today.
The Arctic sea ice cap is declining rapidly. Science warns us that melting
glaciers in the polar regions would lead to severe sea level rise. Disruption
of the Polar Regions will interfere with their vital roles in regulating earth's
climate, oceans cycles and the life supporting role of migratory species. It
is appropriate that 2007 also marks the start of The International Polar Year,
an internationally coordinated effort to promote polar research. Today, ice
melting is taking place in all regions of the world. Shrinking mountain glaciers
in Asia, Africa, the Americas and in Europe will affect freshwater supplies, with
consequences for food production and human health.
Climate change and environmental degradation call for solidarity with
those who are particularly vulnerable to its effects. Climate change will
mean different things to different people. It can mean hunger for the
African farmer coping with drought. It can mean migration for the islander
coping with sea level rise and stormy weather. It can mean a loss of
traditional culture and lifestyles for indigenous peoples, including in the
Arctic where toxic chemicals from other regions pose an additional threat to
life and health.
It is Norway's hope that World Environment Day activities can be many
and diverse, reflecting the whole range of steps that need to be taken over
time to reverse global environmental trends. The World Environment Day
should be creative and forward-looking, focusing on possible solutions,
building new partnerships and alliances at home, in the workplace and in
the local community. Norway hopes that the World Environment Day and
the celebrations going on all over the world, will give impetus to global
efforts to solve global environmental challenges securing human welfare
and our common future.
I wish you good luck with World Environment Day 2007 celebrations.
© C
a
ther
ine C
unnigham