Igor CHERNYSHENKO, Russia Duma and Jacqueline McGLADE, Executive Director, speak during the Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region (CPAR) in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Brussels

conference

EU policy for Arctic (T)

fight against climate change (T)

Ninth Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region: extracts

SOUNDBITE (Russian), Igor CHERNYSHENKO, Russian Duma, Ice melting would lead to higher levels of water all the way up to 2 meters; I will not cite catastrophic forecasts, some people believe that these levels would reach from 6 to 7 meters and this is due to melting of ice in Greenland, that will may lead to a global catastrophe.

SOUNDBITE (Russian), Igor CHERNYSHENKO, Russian Duma, If this forecast becomes a reality, 15% of the global population may suffer from flooding; we are talking about 600 million people who would be at risk. The financial risk in the mid-term prospect necessary to avert flooding may lead to 950 billion US dollars if the water level rises to 1 meter.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jacqueline MCGLADE, Executive Director, The introduction by Chernyshenko really points out how the knowledge of what's actually happening to the ice itself is not only a global property, an intellectual property that we all own, but one where there is an immediacy, where news from the ice come back almost instantaneously into setting such as this and informs debate. This information tells us that inexorable changes are continuing, these are not just small perturbations but on the contrary they have planetary consequences.