Why is climate change fuelling tension in the Arctic?

Global temperatures have already increased by around 1.3C above
pre-industrial levels, but this warming is not spread evenly
across the planet. The Arctic, despite being one of the coldest
regions on Earth, has become a hotspot for global warming.


Local temperatures there are rising as much as four-times faster
than in other parts of the world. This rapid warming is
unsettling the delicate environmental balance, causing
significant ice loss – with implications for both the region and
the wider world.


In a previous episode on the Arctic region, Graihagh Jackson
explored the impact that climate change was having on the people
– and ice sheet – of Greenland. In the second part of The Climate
Question's focus on the High North, she explores the implications
of an increasingly ice-free region on global politics, military
relations, and trade.


Guests: Mathieu Boulègue, consulting fellow at Chatham House and
global fellow at the Polar Institute of the Wilson Centre Julie
Brigham-Grette, professor of Earth Sciences in the Department of
Earth, Geographic and Climate Science at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst Malte Humpert, senior fellow at the Arctic
Institute Amund Trellevik, Norwegian journalist with Investigate
Europe


Producer: Ben Cooper Series Producers: Simon Watts and Alex Lewis
Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Production
Coordinators: Debbie Richford, Sophie Hill and Jacqui Johnson