Global warming is a fact. The reason for this can only be a guess. There are hypotheses claiming that the climate changes are consequences of human activities. Other hypotheses say that such occurrences appear regularly every few thousand years. As early as the beginning of the twentieth century some scientists noticed indicators of the growth of the global average temperature. Regardless of the reason global warming is observable mostly in polar areas. Nowadays about four million people live in the Arctic including native inhabitants. Global warming impacts on all of these including indigenous peoples of the Arctic whose cultural identities have always been related to nature. They have always lived in harmony together with nature, they have been a part of it and have never tried to fight against it. A changing climate can make them give up the way their ancestors used to live. Afterwards it can cause the disappearance of their languages and cultures that languages are parts of. Besides for many decades all indigenous people had been thought to be at a lower development level than new arrivals so today almost all languages spoken by indigenous peoples of the Arctic are endangered. All indigenous peoples of the Arctic have common points in their histories like deprivation of lands and suppression of languages and traditions. Most of their ancient customs and religions are forgotten but there are many material marks that are important for future generations. It is very important to preserve the marks and the knowledge of their languages because the value of them is priceless. 

In the last years, as a result of climate changes, plenty of transformations have taken place in the High North. Consequently, ice cap of the Arctic is melting at a very fast pace, and that means significant rise of sea levels as well as decreasing animals’ habitats. On the other hand, disappearing Arctic ice is opening new areas of exploitation for humans. The Arctic might also soon become the world’s most important reservoir of clean water and food. The warming is leading to changes in ecosystems, arousing a number of enquiries about territorial division of the region, its preservation and utilisation. The changes taking place in the Arctic pose a challenge on many levels: economic, social, security, and environmental protection. First of all, economic (access to probably the biggest deposits of oil, gas and precious metals in the world) and ecological (environmental protection) interests are clashing there. The North Pole, although with varying intensity, is becoming present in foreign policies of many countries. On the Old Continent, it has been noticed by the whole European Union as well as particular countries. One of them is Germany. Germany is interested in the region from the economic and ecological perspective.