5 December 1997, Savoonga Alask

The sea-ice that usually forms in October and November around the Alaska Native village of Savoonga in on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea has not yet appeared. This is believed to be an early sign of global warming, and is already having a dramatic impact on the lives of the village's 600 residents, who depend on the ice to hunt and fish for food.

The Western Arctic is one of the fastest warming regions of the globe, as was recently confirmed by a five year study of the physical climate record conducted by the US National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration and the National Climate Research Center, among others. According to lead author J. Overpeck of NOAA, the Arctic warming is "the most definitive sign yet that [human-induced] greenhouse-gas warming is under way." These findings complement observations by the Siberian Yupik people of Savoonga. Greenpeace travelled to Savoonga in late November to record these observations, adding them to a growing body of testimonies collected in the past year from Alaska Natives on the impacts of climate change in the Arctic.

The decrease in the sea-ice cover in recent years has made subsistence hunting dangerous and difficult. Savoonga is one of the poorest of Alaska's villages, and its residents rely heavily on traditional foods harvested from the productive ice-edge environment, especially during the long Arctic winter. But the animals follow the ice, and the villagers depend on thick, solid sea-ice to provide a stable platform for hunting and transport.

As of today, there was no sea-ice near the village. " It's very very late compared with what we're used to. When the ice comes in we usually walk out there on the thick ice to get our walrus or seals", says John Kulowiyi, a village elder and hunter. No ice means no traditional food, and the residents become dependent upon very expensive imported food, which they can ill afford.

According to Norway's Nansen Institute, sea-ice cover in the Arctic has already declined by 5.5% since 1978. Dr. Vera Alexander, Dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks adds: "With respect to primary production, there would be a reduction and perhaps ultimately a loss of ice algae, and elimination of the entire ice-associated community, including the dependent species, such as polar cod. The animals which depend on ice as a platform, such as the seals, walrus, and polar bears, would be vulnerable due to loss of their habitat...many of the distinctive arctic animals would disappear."

The elders of the village of Savoonga have seen many changes in their lifetime, but none so dramatic as the changes in the weather. Alexander Akeya, an elder and hunter, teaches traditional techniques and crafts at the village school, and is worried by what he has seen lately. "I think about the future...if it it's getting warm, really warm like this, I don't know what will happen to us".

As delegates to the Climate Change SUMMIT meet in Kyoto, Greenpeace urged governments and fossil fuel industry representatives to consider the human cost of inaction on climate change. "If neither science nor public opinion can sway the Clinton administration and its fossil-fuel industry backers, then perhaps a glimpse of Alaska Natives facing the destruction of their community and their way of life can help open their eyes," said Kalee Kreider in Kyoto. Greenpeace has long targeted the fossil-fuel industry and their well-funded lobbyists as the single greatest obstacle to political action to protect the global climate.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Kalee Kreider, Greenpeace, in Kyoto - +81-20-249-1502

Sallie Schullinger, Greenpeace, in Anchorage, Alaska - +1-907-277-8234

Dr. Vera Alexander, Fairbanks, Alaska - +1-907-474-6824

Melanie Duchin, Greenpeace, Washington - +1-202- 319-2419

Steve Sawyer, Greenpeace, Amsterdam - +31-20-662-6795