Environmental analysis news: Arctic ice melt 'could cost billions'

Rising sea levels and warmer temperatures caused by Arctic ice melting could cost governments around the world billions of dollars, scientists have claimed.

According to a report published by the Bard College in New York, the global cost of the ice melt this year could be between $61 billion (£39.23 billion) and $371 billion.

Co-author of the study Eban Goodstein explained that they had put a monetary figure on the issue to "allow us to better understand both the region's immense importance and the enormous price we will pay if the ice is lost".

The researchers pointed out that the Arctic area is heating up twice as quickly as the rest of the world. This is partly because the ice and snow which reflected sunlight is disappearing and also because large quantities of methane are being released into the atmosphere as the permafrost melts.

In August 2008, the Daily Telegraph reported that it became possible to circumnavigate the Arctic ice cap after melting ice opened channels to both the north-east and north-west of the area.

This was the first time in human history that the Arctic had become an island, the newspaper stated.

Posted by Joseph Hutton