By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
People living in the Arctic have filed a legal petition against the US government, saying its climate change policies violate human rights.
The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) claims the US is failing to control emissions of greenhouse gases, damaging livelihoods in the Arctic.
Its petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demands that the US limits its emissions.
Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at about twice the global average.
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a vast scientific study which took four years to compile, found that the region will warm by four to seven degrees Celsius by the end of the century, with summer sea ice disappearing within 60 years.
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more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4511556.stmThe native Canadians who call themselves the Inuit are more commonly known in the US as "Eskimos", of which they are a subgroup. "Inuit" is the term they prefer, and is the most current Canadian usage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EskimoON EDIT: Whoops, old article. Saw 8 December, missed 2005.