FDC from Czech／FDC du tchèque

PRESERVE THE POLAR REGIONS AND GLACIERS／
PRÉSERVEZ LES RÉGIONS POLAIRES ET LES GLACIERS



The postage stamps issued in the form of a miniature sheet drawing attention to protection of polar regions and glaciers is a joint project of forty countries set up at the initiative of Finland and Chile. The common symbol of all issues is a crystal designed by the Finnish graphic designer Saku Heinänen. This project is unique mainly because the initiative of the two countries found response in dozens of postal administrations in different parts of the globe who aimed to address both the peoples and governments all around the world.

In the past decades global warming was most evident in polar regions where it has been the cause of thawing of continental glaciers as well as floating icebergs. This situation may soon lead not only to the rise of the sea level but also to global climate changes. Warming causes not only changes of sea currents but also growing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the air which are created by human activities which are often careless of the nature. The highest rise in temperature in this century by 2 to 6 °C is expected to occur in the arctic region. Temperatures have been rising also in the Southern polar regions. Antarctic ice has been disappearing as coastal glaciers split apart from the ice shelves. In March 2008 a cake of ice of a size larger than Prague separated from the collapsing Wilkinson ice shelf. Ice melting endangers also animal and plant species occurring in polar regions.

Water resources, agriculture and forest industry, energy production and human health are most affected by the global changes. The existing climatic changes should be slowed down and their impact reduced by better exploitation of energy resources and use of low carbon fuels and renewable resources. Further improvements could be brought by investments into new technologies and services and into research of polar regions.