Polar tourists see a thawing world

PARIS — They go to paddle between glistening icebergs or ski on blinding white ice, but a rising number of polar tourists get to see something else, too: The monumental changes wrought by global warming.

They see the ice shelves and soaring glaciers thaw before their eyes, making them important witnesses to a threatened landscape, say activists and tour companies.

The Antarctic Peninsula and Arctic are considered global hot spots, warming at double the average rate for the planet. Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier, one of the biggest single contributors to world sea-level rise, is melting irreversibly, say scientists.

The Arctic ice cap is melting faster than ever before, threatening to push so much fresh water into the North Atlantic that it could disrupt how the ocean regulates global temperatures, a prominent oceanographer has warned. On Norway’s Lofoten Islands, north of the Arctic Circle, the warmer temperatures are noticeable.

“To find yourself walking about in shorts with the temperature at 25°C at the beginning of June in the Norwegian town of Svolvaer, when the average temperature for the previous 10 years was 12 degrees, that is completely unheard of,” said Ms Margaux Maury, a French tourist who spent 10 days on the archipelago. “It really makes you realise that global warming has taken hold.”

Such experiences could help sound the alarm about the impact of global warming at the poles, said French adventurer and director Nicolas Varnier. “People should go discover the polar zone, but of course not in any old way,” he said.

“It could be a great opportunity as we need ambassadors to stand witness to the upheavals caused by global warming, which are so rapid and strong that even nature has not had the time to react.”

About 70,000 tourists visited Greenland in 2014, and more than 40,000 visited Norway’s northernmost Svalbard archipelago, according to the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators.

Interest in polar tourism is increasing, said Mr Daniel Skjeldam, head of Norwegian polar cruise company Hurtigruten. The company registered an 8 per cent rise in guest nights between 2013 and 2014, he said.

“By travelling in the polar waters, you can see some of the challenges that we face in the world today,” said Mr Skjeldam.

In the Antarctic, some 40,000 tourists, mostly aboard cruise ships, are expected in the 2015-16 season. This is a 50 per cent increase from just four years ago, according to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. About a quarter of them will not set foot on Antarctica, however, thanks to a 1994 treaty that protects its fragile environment.

The treaty imposes a limit on ships that dock to fewer than 500 passengers, and allows only 100 people ashore at a time. Those who go ashore must have the soles of their boots washed and their belongings brushed off to prevent the introduction of diseases and non-native species.

“In Antarctica, mass tourism will not happen because of the regulations,” said Mr Skjeldam. “I would love to see the same regulations in the Arctic waters, so that you do not get people acting like cowboys,” he said, calling for limits to prevent ships with 5,000 passengers and huge fuel tanks from plying the nearly pristine waters.

Eight countries that share the Arctic — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States — have adopted common rules to protect the area, but they are less restrictive than in the Antarctic, said Mr Lionel Habasque, head of French tour operator Grand Nord Grand Large. AFP