Climate Change Challenges in the Arctic

Today, the Arctic faces a drastic transformation, driven mainly by the impacts of climate change. Research suggests this will have dramatic implications for the region’s sensitive ecosystems, peoples, and natural resources. The repercussions will not be confined to the Arctic; they will have global consequences as well. Once pristine, the Arctic today, given the increase in human activities detrimental to its ecosystem services, faces challenges to its ecological state and to the socioecological resilience of its people. The comparatively rapid rise in temperature, resulting from climate change, will continue to impact the natural environmental conditions, eventually precipitating broader changes in the region’s sociopolitical, demographic, and economic infrastructure. Against this background, the chapter offers an overview of the consequences of climate change in the Arctic as they may affect the environmental, social, economic, political, and security spheres.