ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Speaking at a State Department conference on Arctic climate change in Anchorage on Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry warned that the impacts of global warming that are being seen throughout the Arctic are a "harbinger" of more damaging changes that will sweep across the globe unless policy makers take urgent action to cut emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases.
Standing in front of the foreign ministers of Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden, as well as representatives from the European Union, Britain, Spain, France and Germany, among other countries, Kerry said the current migrant crisis in Europe may pale in comparison to a climate change-induced mass migration event.
Climate research has shown that global warming may enhance the risks of violent conflict in some parts of the world by amplifying water stress and shortages of food. One noteworthy study published earlier this year linked climate change to the Syrian Civil War.
This war, which has led to the displacement of more than 4 million Syrians, is one of the drivers of the current migrant crisis that European countries are struggling to respond to.
“Unless the global community comes together to address this challenge, the dramatic climate impacts that we’re seeing in this part of the world will be a harbinger for every part of the world," Kerry said of global warming.
"And we as leaders of countries will begin to witness what we call climate refugees moving – you think migration is a challenge to Europe today because of extremism, wait until you see what happens when there’s an absence of water, an absence of food, or one tribe fighting against another for mere survival," he said.
In addition, sea level rise caused by global warming is projected to put some countries, like small Pacific island states, completely underwater, and flood large portions of highly populated countries like Bangladesh. This too could lead to an increased stream of refugees on a scale not yet seen before, at least not because of any environmental issue.
Kerry, others also keep focus on Paris talks
Kerry said he hopes leaders emerge from the daylong conference, known as the Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic, or GLACIER, with a "heightened sense of urgency" that is carried through to Paris, where a crucial climate summit begins in early December, and beyond.
“Today we can discuss what we can come up with in Paris,” Kerry said, acknowledging that part of the goal for the meeting, which is ostensibly about Arctic issues, is to build momentum toward Paris.
“What we discuss here today is important not just for the Arctic, it is important for the rest of the world," Kerry said, noting the Arctic's status as the globe's sentinel region on global warming.
“The Arctic is in many ways a thermostat, a computerized system that we don’t really understand what the algorithm is,” he said.
Foreign ministers and other government representatives issued a joint statement at the GLACIER conference on Monday afternoon, reaffirming their commitment to "take urgent action to slow the pace of warming in the Arctic, focusing on actions that impact the global atmosphere as well as the Arctic itself."
The Foreign Ministers and other representatives from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom and the European Union signed onto the statement. It includes a sentence affirming representatives' "strong determination to work together and with others to achieve a successful, ambitious outcome at the international climate negotiations in December in Paris this year."
President Obama is scheduled to address attendees at the Arctic meeting on Monday evening at 9 p.m. ET. This will kick off his historic three-day visit to the Frontier State, a trip meant to highlight the myriad of ways that climate change is already affecting America's largest state.
Prior to Obama's arrival, his chief science advisor, John Holdren, painted a picture of Alaska and the Arctic as a whole in the grips of rapid global warming that is taking place at four times the global average rate in some areas.
While ice is melting throughout the Arctic, both sea ice and land ice, in Alaska the loss rate is particularly acute, Holdren said. Obama is expected to see this firsthand when he visits the glaciers in Kenai Fjords National Park on Tuesday.