Below are the headlines and start of a feature article by Lara Bullens about the impact of increased sea traffic in the Arctic first published on Sunday on France24.com. The article is now running on Google News and is sourced from an internet page www.france24.com.
"The Arctic is warming four times faster than any other place on the planet. As sea ice melts, new shipping routes between continents are opening up, and the yearly window for navigating through these freezing waters is expanding. But there is a heavy toll that comes with increased traffic in the Arctic, a fragile environment that is rapidly collapsing.
"When a Russian gas tanker sliced through the icy waters of the Arctic in the middle of winter four years ago, it became clear global shipping routes would be forever changed.
"The Christophe de Margerie vessel, named after the former CEO of French oil company Total, made its way from eastern China through the Bering Sea, eventually docking at a remote Arctic port in Siberia in February 2021.
"For the first time in history, global warming caused by humans allowed a ship to navigate through Arctic winter ice.
"The Arctic has been warming four times faster than anywhere else on the planet since 1979, according to multiple scientific studies.
"Melting sea ice is opening up paths for increased shipping and other vessel traffic in the region, especially along the Northern Sea Route, the Arctic shortcut between Europe and Asia that stretches more than 9,000 kilometres.
"Shipping seasons are also being prolonged as a result of the warming climate.
"But with more traffic comes more environmental degradation. The consequences are dire, particularly for climate heating, loss of biodiversity and pollution.
"And since the Arctic is a key regulator of the Earth's climate, what happens in this region can be felt thousands of kilometres away. "
