Despite the historic deal climate change has already transformed parts of the world.

Climate change is altering more than the landscape in the arctic it’s bringing new jobs and progress to an area steeped in tradition, and a culture characterized by hunting and trapping.

For generations, it was unheard of drilling for offshore oil in extreme conditions in the Arctic.

The changing climate is posing challenges for indigenous peoples living north of the Arctic Circle but it’s not changing some of their long-held traditions.

In Paris, much of the talk at a highly regarded climate change summit is revolving around curbing greenhouse gas emissions and easing global dependence on oil and gas. Big oil giants are going to the harshest climates, at the farthest reaches of the earth, to find more energy.

In the late 1950’s, the U.S. government planned to develop a deep-water port off the far northwestern corner of Alaska. The plans moved forward, despite the fact the waters in the region are frozen solid most of the year.

Climate change is faster and more severe in the Arctic than most of the world.  It’s getting warmer there each year. 

Climate change is faster and more severe in the Arctic than most of the planet.

The Arctic is changing. There really is no debate about that.

As the ice thins and melts, new areas are opening on both land and sea.

As global leaders meet to discuss climate change, a group of researchers in the Arctic are focusing on permafrost. Permafrost is exactly what it sounds like: ground that’s permanently frozen. But a tiny uptick in temperatures is fueling concern that thawing earth could lead to engineering disasters and worsen global warming.

Climate change is having a dramatic effect on the people who have carved out a way of life in the harsh region. It’s also threatening one of their most cherished practices, whaling.

Here are some of the beautiful sights and sounds of the Arctic captured by photojournalist Andrew Smith.

The people of the Arctic are among the first on Earth to experience the direct impacts of global warming, and it was their compelling stories that prompted CCTV America to produce a new documentary about the repercussions of climate change on the people, land, and wildlife of the Arctic.

There are only about 100,000 indigenous people that live within the Arctic Circle in Alaska and in Canada, comprising 2.5 percent of the 4 million people that live in the Arctic worldwide, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s Arctic Research Program.

Here are vignettes of some of the people featured in “On Thin Ice.”

Photographer Andrew Smith and I went to the Arctic in mid-March, while it was still winter. It was routinely -25 Celsius, more often than not with blowing snow and strong gusting winds.

CCTV America’s Sean Callebs spent three months in the arctic to explore how this harsh environment is warming at rapid rates.