The Arctic, the Tropics and Ottawa

Despite their distance, the circumpolar North and the countries in the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Oceans, known collectively as the Small Developing States, have much in common. Both regions feel threatened by increasing evidence of global warming – melting ice and changing species in the north, hurricanes and rising sea levels in regions closer to the equator. Both express concern about inaction and the unsuccessful implementation of the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Indigenous groups in Canada hope to convince their own national government based in Ottawa to make climate change a priority, writes James Allen of the Arctic Athabaskan Council for the Globe and Mail. An alliance, called Many Strong Voices, has emerged from the two regions and seeks to convince large developing nations and emerging powers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For some, climate change has become a major foreign-policy issue and a matter of survival. – YaleGlobal