Why Is “The Place Where the Ice Never Melts” So Important?

Ongoing climate change is causing loss of sea ice across the Arctic Ocean. Within the next few decades, most of the region may be free of ice in summer, with the exception of a band of thick ice that accumulates along the northern coasts of Canada and Greenland. This Last Ice Area is considered a refuge for marine mammals and their food webs adapted to cold, icy waters. It is also important for cooling the lands along the coast, where there is bountiful life in ice-capped lakes, glaciers and frozen desert soils. Sea ice is vital to the Inuit, who have been living in the North for thousands of years, and in partnership with the Canadian government, they have created a conservation area named “the place where the ice never melts”. Long-term preservation of this Arctic wildlife refuge will only be possible by reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.