Global Warming is linked to a natural process: the so-called ‘greenhouse effect'. The Earth's atmosphere allows life on the planet by acting as a filter from damaging solar radiation. The Earth's surface reflects most of the Sun's rays back into space while some of the Sun's infrared radiation is trapped to keep its surface warm and therefore livable.

However, since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, human activity has led to the emission of several gases with a strong ‘greenhouse potential', like carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxides (NOx). The rate of emissions has been unprecedented, way beyond the boundary of natural variability.

Naturally, it takes about 10,000 years to experience a 5 °C temperature change. In the last 100 years we have already experienced a temperature rise by 0.6 °C: global temperatures have increased by 0.2 °C every decade for the past 30 yrs. In other words, the climate is warming at an alarming rate of about 10 times faster than the natural rate/one.

Warming is greater at higher altitudes (sub-Artic boreal forest of Siberia & North America) where melting ice and snow expose more surfaces that absorb sunlight thus leading to increased melting and rise in sea levels. In the past 2 years, permanent sea ice has contracted 14% while 1 cubic metre of ice is being lost daily from both hemispheres. In Siberia, the melting of permafrost is releasing methane from thawing peat, further exacerbating global warming.