USA: Global community must come together to address climate change - Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry called on world powers to come together to address climate change during his speech at the the Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic in Anchorage, Alaska, on Monday. "Unless the global community comes together to address this challenge, the dramatic climate impacts that we're seeing in this part of the world will be a harbinger for every part of the world," Kerry said, adding that "climate change is not a distant threat for our children and their children to worry about. It is now, it is happening now." Speaking about the rapid pace of climate change occurring in the Arctic circle, the US secretary of state said that "we know the Arctic is warming at this pace that was described today, twice as fast, four times in certain places, glaciers now melting three times faster than the rate observed in the last century," adding that unless the global community responds to this challenge "the dramatic climate impacts that we're seeing in this part of the world will be a harbinger for every part of the world." The conference on 'Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience' also known as the GLACIER conference, is designed to highlight international and domestic priorities in the Arctic and generate momentum in addressing the most pressing issues facing the northern region. Participating nations include the US, Canada, China, Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the UK, as well as representatives from the EU.