Fears over Arctic research plans

An increasing number of researchers are concerned about a controversial plan by US colleagues to work alongside oil companies to hunt for fossil fuel reserves in the Arctic. The US Geological Survey is lining up a project with BP and Statoil to find oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean, under the auspices of a flagship scientific initiative intended to tackle global warming. Tackling climate change and working out how it will affect the Arctic and Antarctic is a central theme of International Polar Year (IPY) — a high-profile project to start next spring that involves thousands of scientists from 60 countries. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet and last September saw the lowest extent of sea ice cover for more than a century. Scientists say that the temperature there could rise by a further 4–7ºC by 2100, and the Arctic Ocean could be ice free in summer by 2060. Documents on the IPY website show that BP and Statoil, a Norwegian company, are significant consortium members on a USGS proposal to assess " energy resources in the circumarctic area including oil, gas, coalbed methane and methane hydrates ". Geologists estimate that a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves lie under the Arctic, and analysts have predicted a 21 st-century goldrush to tap them as the Arctic Ocean's ice cover retreats. A new polar research effort is raising concerns that it may bolster fossil fuel extraction and increasingly threaten many local species. Launching the polar initiative last month, Chris Rapely, director of the British Antarctic Survey, said that scientists would work on projects " that will tackle the urgent environmental issues " because " rapid climate change is already impacting local peoples... and it is only a question of time before the wider consequences become apparent ". The Inuit people have filed a lawsuit against the US government claiming that greenhouse gas pollution is damaging their livelihoods. Experts have warned the only realistic way to prevent dangerous climate change is to curb carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. Unlike the Antarctic continent, spread around the South Pole, the Arctic has no formal international treaty to regulate activities. And, while inclement conditions for Dwindling: The polar ice cover is receding, opening up oceans to fossil fuel prospecting to the alarm of many researchers.