Alaska conference focuses on changes affecting Arctic nations
Climate leaders won't request territory to make huge changes: feds
Karen K. Ho
Northern News Services
Monday, September 7, 2015
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
Businesses in the territory should be concerned about how climate change will affect where they work, but not about whether the government will require them to lower greenhouse gas emissions, said the acting assistant deputy minister of Intergovernmental Affairs for the territory.
Alaska's Mt. McKinley, recently renamed Denali. The state hosted the GLACIER conference in Anchorage on Aug. 31, which GN acting assistant deputy minister of intergovernmental affairs Bill MacKay attended. - photo courtesy of Pete Souza, White House photographer |
Bill MacKay said economic development was a big topic during discussions at GLACIER, the conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience that took place in Anchorage, Alaska on Aug. 31.
MacKay said there were also economic opportunities in reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
"If there are businesses in the Arctic that have that expertise they'll benefit from it," he said.
But he said there was acknowledgement many Northern economies solely rely on greenhouse gas-emitting sources of fuel for energy out of necessity.
"At the same time, Northern communities aren't big emitters of carbon," said MacKay from his office in Ottawa. "There's recognition there has to be a global response on climate change and that response will have an effect on the Arctic. At the same time, Arctic residents have unique circumstances and won't be able to implement reductions to the scale that maybe other areas will be implementing."
At GLACIER, MacKay said he learned from a series of presentations from scientists that effects of climate change are felt more in the Arctic due to melting sea ice, higher-than-average increased temperatures and greater changes in sea levels.
"They anticipate there will be a lot more ice-free water," MacKay said. "In some places in the Arctic it could be ice-free all through the year."
Passages would likely increase in the future but MacKay said that would also come with the additional risk of negative consequences, such as accidents. "Plus with more activity in the Arctic you'll need more infrastructure, more ability to do search and rescue, so there's a lot of adaptation measures," he said.
While Canada is expected to set a target for a reduction of total greenhouse gas emissions for the upcoming United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris this December, MacKay said expectations for the territories' contribution would be fairly low.
"They're at a different stage of economic development," he said. "A reduction in greenhouse gases for them might have economic repercussions."
