As New Leader of Arctic Council, the US Will Focus on Region's Big Thaw

"What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. That will be a key message over the next two years when the United States holds the rotating chair of the Arctic Council, a group that fosters cooperation between the eight countries sharing the Arctic region.

Climate change is transforming the Arctic faster than any other part of the planet, with rapidly rising temperatures, thawing permafrost, melting polar ice and changing ecosystems. It’s causing grave hardships for the people who live there and even causing some communities to literally fall into the sea.

That’s why, in a shift from the leadership of outgoing chair Canada, the US will put fighting and adapting to climate change in the region high on its agenda as council chair from 2015-2017."

Peter Thomson reports for PRI's The World April 23, 2015.