People and the Poles
However we still remain remarkably ignorant of many aspects of how polar climate operates and its interaction with other ecosystems and societies. To have any hope of understanding the current global climate and what might happen in future the science community needs a better picture of conditions at the poles and how they interact with and influence the oceans, atmosphere and land masses. Existing climate models do not work well in the polar regions and have for example failed to predict the dramatic break-up of Antarctic ice shelves observed in recent years. The three fastest warming regions on the planet in the last two decades have been Alaska, Siberia and parts of the Antarctic Peninsula, Thus the Polar Regions are highly sensitive to climate change and this raises real concern for the future of polar ecosystems and Arctic society.
The scientific importance of the polar regions can be summarized as follows:
- The polar regions are integral components of Earth System - linked to global climate system, sea level, biogeochemical cycles, marine ecosystems.
- The unique facets of the polar environments such as (sea ice, snow cover and major ice sheets, are variable over wide range of timescales and have exhibited non-linear behaviour.
- The polar regions respond to, amplify and drive changes elsewhere in Earth system.
- The interplay of the ocean, atmosphere and the cryosphere in the polar regions is makes this region key in producing "rapid" climatic change (change on decadal or human timescales).
- The polar marine benthic environment and the extensive sub-glacial environment has been a relatively isolated and stable environment over long time period and hence is particularly vulnerable to change.
- Polar ice, sediments and rocks represent a unique repository of information on past states of planet which provide crucial insights into the past and future.
- Polar regions are home to unique organisms adapted to the demanding environment, offering incredible opportunities to understand evolution and other biological and ecological questions, especially given the tools of modern bioscience.
The polar regions face significant challenges caused by social and environmental change, as direct impact of human activities. Therefore, it was deemed essential to assimilate the scientific finding and reduce anthropogenic pressures, and to create awareness on receeding ice and impact on people & culture.
There have been a number of major international science initiatives in Polar Regions since the first International Polar Year in 1882-83 and all have had a major influence in overhauling our understanding of global processes in these important areas. These initiatives have involved an intense period of interdisciplinary research, collecting a broad range of measurements that provide a snapshot in time of the state of the polar regions. The last such initiative was the International Geophysical Year in 1957-58, involving 80,000 scientists from 67 countries.
It produced unprecedented exploration and discoveries in many fields of research and fundamentally changed how science was conducted in the Polar Regions. Fifty years on, technological and scientific developments offer enormous opportunities for a further step upwards in our understanding of polar systems. An IPY in 2007-2008 also affords an opportunity to engage the upcoming generation of young Earth System scientists and to get the public to realize just how much the cold ends of the sphere we all live on really do influence us.
The IPY "year" actually will extend from March 1, 2007, until March 1, 2009, to allow researchers to conduct two annual observing cycles in each polar region, particularly in the isolated parts that are prohibitively cold and dark for roughly six months of the year.
The WWF network has, over the years, brought together experts from different countries to address the challenging issues of tourism, oil exploration, fishing, and climate change in the polar regions through its Arctic Programme. WWF is also represented in the CCAMLR meetings through its Antarctic & Southern Ocean Initiative (ASOI). This WWF network engagement in the Artic & Antarctica, provides WWF-India with a base for long term engagement with Government of India to address environment concerns through different means including raising awareness among young scientists and public at large. This responsibility emanates from WWF-India being a member of the “Sub-committee on Antarctic Tourism”, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. WWF-India through its network and offices in all coastal states of India has been engaged in conservation through projects involving various stakeholders, raising awareness through development of IEC materials and campaigns.
