The visualisation in this video shows sea ice melting in the Arctic between 1984 and 2019 at an alarming rate.
The white ice represents sea ice older than 4 years. The blue is younger sea ice. The older sea ice covered 3,121,000 square kilometres in 1988, and has now reduced to 116,000 square kilometres today.
India is currently hosting the 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) to United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Scientists fear that desertification, melting of the Arctic ice caps, and thawing of the Siberian permafrost are part of a positive feedback loop that could spiral out the climate change crisis, Director General of Centre for Science and Environment, wrote last month.
In June, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said 30% of India’s total geographical area was being affected by land degradation.