All these can have grave consequences. A recent report U.S. Geological Survey report predicts that changes in sea ice will result in the loss of about two thirds of the world's polar bear population by 2050. But this is likely an underestimation of the predicted impact because of the consistent underestimations of sea ice loss in current models, the WWF said.

"The world is still discussing whether or not to take rapid action against climate change," said Neil Hamilton, Director of the WWF Arctic Program. "Politicians are fiddling at the edges while the Arctic wilderness succumbs to global warming; but in the meantime, they are sending one of the world's greatest species on its way to extinction."

A political will

Despite Hamilton's criticism, political discussions on climate change are continuing within the UN and at various bilateral and multilateral gatherings. Earlier this month, climate change was discussed at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Meeting in Sydney. Leaders of the Asia-Pacific economies adopted a Sydney Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development, to support the UN's global efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The declaration's goals are to reduce energy intensity, a measurement of a nation's energy efficiency based on its energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product, by at least 25 percent by 2030 from the 2005 level and increase forest cover in the Asia-Pacific region by at least 20 million hectares of all types of forests by 2020.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said "there should be a long-term aspirational goal for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions" to guide an effective post-2012 international arrangement on climate change, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

"All economies should contribute to achieving that goal, taking into account national circumstances and allowing for a range of market-based policy measures," Howard said. He also said APEC would adopt regional goals to reduce energy intensity and increase forest cover and that new technologies would support actions toward the goals.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change requires industrialized nations to lower greenhouse gas emissions by about 5 percent between 2008 and 2012 compared with their 1990 levels. The European Union has committed itself to an 8 percent reduction during this time. The United States withdrew from the protocol in 2001. It argued that setting compulsory targets for reducing emissions would be detrimental to the American economy, especially if developing countries, such as China and India, which are now among the major emitters, were not subject to similar mandatory reductions.

In December, government ministers will meet in Bali, Indonesia, for the annual meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. They will discuss proposals on the mitigation of global warming, the global carbon market and financing responses to climate change for the period after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

In preparation for the Bali meeting, representatives from 158 countries at a UN climate change conference in August in Vienna agreed that greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced by 25 to 40 percent by 2020, based on 1990 levels.

Huang of the National Climate Center said a global approach is crucial in curbing climate change. The UN Framework Convention and its Kyoto Protocol are currently the main mechanisms to coordinate efforts in this regard, he said.