. "After nearly eight years of talk, self-government will soon be a reality in the Delta" Melting glaciers are producing more icebergs, thanks to global warming.

James Hrynyshyn
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 16/01) - As international climate-change negotiations resume today in Bonn, Germany, the prospects for the Arctic's embattled environment continue to look bleak.

Japan and Australia both announced last week that they would not take part in any talks aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions associated with global warming unless the United States returns to the negotiating table.

U.S. President George W. Bush pulled out of global talks in March, arguing proposed changes to industrial habits would harm the nation's economy.

Further complicating matters is Canada's continued demand for a stronger role for so-called "carbon sinks," such as forests and croplands, in countering the country's fossil-fuel emissions.

A growing list of scientific studies suggests that Northern forests and soils may actually make climate change worse instead of mitigating the warming, but federal officials told News/North Thursday that Canada remains committed to relying on them. They said Canada's managed forests will remain a net carbon sink "for the foreseeable future."

Meanwhile, the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released last week, lays out a series of dire weather-related predictions for much of the planet if climate change cannot be slowed. It points again to dramatic evidence, including melting permafrost and glaciers in the Arctic, where climate change is more dramatic than anywhere else.

Canada's negotiators said they do not expect to make significant progress at the Bonn talks this week, but are hopeful that another round scheduled for October in Morocco will prove more fruitful.