Among the four main priorities of Norway’s agenda for chairmanship, our climate and environment are most important to me. While the other focuses are just as essential for prosperity in the north, the climate crisis is an issue that has long been ignored and needs immediate attention before we create irreversible damage to our planet. The Arctic is being hit by climate change much faster than the rest of the globe, and rising coastlines paired with melting permafrost and warming oceans spell out immense harm for our coastal Arctic cities and villages. This especially poses a threat to indigenous peoples that subsistence hunt and live on coastlines – climate change may make it impossible for people to continue living on their ancestral lands.
Agreed– climate change needs our immediate attention. The Arctic feels many of its effects first.