A conference on global warming opened Tuesday in Greenland, Denmark's Arctic territory which is heavily affected by rising temperatures around the globe. The informal meeting groups 25 environment ministers from the United States, India, Brazil, China, Japan and several European countries.
Talks will include future international climate co-operation after 2012 when the first phase of the Kyoto protocol ends, the Danish environment ministry said.
A recent study, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, showed that the Arctic has been heating up twice as fast as the rest of the Earth over the past decade due to the so-called greenhouse effect.
Less than a century from now, Arctic ice could melt completely during the summer, threatening many species and the lifestyle of the indigenous Inuit population, the study warned.
Danish Environment Minister Connie Hedegaard picked Ilulissat, in the Disko bay in western Greenland, 250 kilometres (150 miles) north of the polar circle, as a venue for the four-day conference to show colleagues how fast Greenland's glaciers are already melting.
"Climate change is not a theoretical threat. We can already feel it in Greenland's fragile nature," Hedegaard said before the conference kicked off.
The Greenland conference is to help prepare for the 11th United Nations climate conference in Canada in December.
Talks are to be held behind closed doors with a news conference scheduled at the end of the conference.