Beware of permafrost peril - UNEP

QATAR: Melting permafrost is emerging as a new factor in climate change, allowing long-frozen carbon to be released into the air and accelerating global warming, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Tuesday.

In a report issued as the annual round of UN climate talks entered their second day, UNEP said scientists had already pronounced thawing permafrost to be a worry but the issue remained off politicians' radar.

"Its potential impact on the climate, ecosystems and infrastructure has been neglected for too long," warned UNEP excutive director Achim Steiner.

"This report seeks to communicate to climate-treaty negotiators, policy makers and the general public the implications of continuing to ignore the challenges of warming permafrost."

Permafrost covers huge tracts of northern Siberia and Canada, as well as parts of China and the United States.

It comprises an "active" layer at the surface, up to two metres (6.5 feet deep), which melts in summer and refreezes in winter, and beneath it is permanently frozen soil.

If warming penetrates this under-layer, it could release vast amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane from vegetation deposited thousands of years ago but which until now have been safely locked up in ice.

These greenhouse gases would enter the atmosphere, adding to warming, which then accelerates the permafrost melt -- a vicious circle known in scientific parlance as a feedback.

The UNEP report said that the feedback scenario, first sketched by ice scientists about a decade ago, is becoming a real source of concern.

Arctic and alpine air temperatures are expected to increase at roughly twice the global rate.

So an average worldwide temperature increase of three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) would translate into a massive 6 C (10.8 F) rise in the far north, resulting in loss of anywhere between 30 to 85 per cent of near-surface permafrost.

 AFP