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"The Arctic Ocean could be largely ice-free and open to shipping during the summer in as little as ten years' time, a top polar specialist has said.

"It's like man is taking the lid off the northern part of the planet," said Professor Peter Wadhams, from the University of Cambridge.

Professor Wadhams has been studying the Arctic ice since the 1960s.

He was speaking in central London at the launch of the findings of the Catlin Arctic Survey. "

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As climate change causes sea ice to shrink, the number of "problem" polar bears appears to be increasing.

Hungry bears don't just lie down – they go looking for an alternate food source. In many cases this brings them into human settlements and hunting camps.

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One of the planet's most fragile and pristine ecosystems sits atop a bounty of untapped fossil fuels.

Melting polar ice is making the Arctic more accessible to shipping and other industry.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 90 billion barrels of oil, 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids and 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are recoverable in the frozen region north of the Arctic Circle.

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