Today's Events 

The House and Senate are not in session.

Media Review

Genetics of Arctic Plants Under Serious Threat From Climate Change, Says EU-Funded Study. A new EU-funded study by a team of Austrian, French and Norwegian researchers has found that rising temperatures as a result of climate change will have differing genetic consequences within single Arctic plant species. It is hoped that these new results will help focus future conservation efforts in the region and help scientists prioritize which species are important to conserve. While researchers expect that most plant species will lose part of their current habitat as a result of climate change, this new study shows that within a plant species not all plants will experience the same genetic consequences. European Commission CORDIS  

Tribal, Federal Representative Attempt to Solve Sewage System Problems. Residents in a few dozen rural villages in Alaska are still using honey buckets. And with declining federal funds that isn't likely to change anytime soon. But a group of state, tribal and federal representatives met at a workshop in Anchorage today to try to find innovative solutions to the problem. APRN

[Canada] As Coast Guard Celebrates, Questions on Staff Linger: On 50th Anniversary of Service Many Unsure How of If Recruitment Will Continue. Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield and other Conservative MPs spread across the country Thursday to commemorate the Canadian Coast Guard's 50th anniversary and boast about the billions to be invested in new ships for the agency. The question, however, is whether the government will have anyone to man the distinctive red-and-white vessels, particularly as the Arctic is opening up and the agency will be increasingly called upon to help protect North American security. "They're losing people and they're not recruiting the way they should be," said former Liberal senator William Rompkey, who chaired the Senate fisheries committee during several exhaustive studies into the coast guard in recent years. "This is absolutely the wrong time for this to be happening." Canada

Oil Majors Announce Arctic Spill Preparedness and Response Collaboration. With Arctic frontiers opening to development but oil-spill infrastructure limited in many regions, some of the world's biggest oil companies are joining forces in a multi-million-dollar effort to improvement preparedness and response. In the wake of fears that a nearly impossible-to-clean oil spill in sea ice would devastate fragile ecosystems, companies such as BP, Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell are pitching in $2.4 million each to do such things as develop spill-response technology, conduct controlled oil-release tests and improve response capability in case of an accident. Alaska Dispatch

Free Access to Thousands of High North Research Documents. Arctic policy nerds and Far North students of all kinds, prepare to get your geek on ... According to the Barents Observer, the library of Norway's University of Tromsø has collected a registry of thousands of research documents that concern the High North -- and has made it available online free of charge. The searchable collection, called "High North Research Documents," features all sorts of writing and images from around the world concerning topics important in the circumpolar North. Alaska Dispatch

Legislative Action  

Future Events                                   

Arctic Workshop, March 7-9, 2012. The Workshop is hosted by the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. The meeting is open to all interested in the Arctic, and will consist of a series of talks and poster sessions covering all aspects of high-latitude environments. Previous Arctic Workshops have included presentations on arctic and antarctic climate, archeology, environmental geochemistry, geomorphology, hydrology, glaciology, soils, ecology, oceanography, Quaternary history, and more. A traditional strength of the Workshop has been Arctic paleoenvironments. Click here. 

Arctic Science Summit Week 2012, April 20-22, 2012. The summit will provide opportunities for international coordination, collaboration, and cooperation in all areas of arctic science. Side meetings organized by stakeholders in arctic science and policy are also expected. More information here. 

From Knowledge to Action, April 22-27, 2012. The conference will bring together over 2,000 arctic and antarctic researchers, policy and decision-makers, and a broad range of interested parties from academia, industry, non-government, education and circumpolar communities including indigenous peoples. The conference is hosted by the Canadian IPY Program Office, in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada, among other groups. Each day of the conference will feature a program of keynote speakers, plenary panel discussions, parallel science sessions, as well as dedicated poster sessions. The conference-wide plenaries will explore themes related to topics of polar change, global linkages, communities and health, ecosystem services, infrastructure, resources and security. Other sessions will provide the opportunity to present and discuss the application of research findings, policy implications and how to take polar knowledge to action. Click here. 

USARC Commission Meeting, April 27-28, 2012. The 97th meeting of the USARC will be held in Montreal, Canada, in conjunction with the "From Knowledge to  

Action" IPY meeting referred to above. The Commission will meet on April 27-28, and will meet jointly with the Canadian Polar Commission on the afternoon of the 27th, to discuss common interests in Arctic Research. Details to follow. 

Arctic Forum 2012, April 30-May 1, 2012. The Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. will host the forum in conjunction with their 24th annual meeting. Both events will be in Washington, D.C. The Arctic Forum is part of the American Geophysical Union's Science Policy Conference, which will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. The Conference will focus on the science that helps inform policymakers' decisions. Within the Science Policy Conference, the Arctic Forum will assess gaps and priority needs for arctic scientific information to inform decision makers in policy

formation for three key themes:

                - Governance and Security in the Arctic;

                - Transportation and Energy Development; and

                - Changing Arctic Ecosystems.

The Forum will examine the current state of policymaker and public understanding of the issues. An important goal will be to foster an increased capacity for dialogue and action on arctic science-policy issues.

 American Polar Society 75th Anniversary Meeting and Symposium, "The Polar Regions in the 21st Century: Globalization, Climate Change and Geopolitics", May 2-4, 2012, The Explorers Club, NYC. For 75 years, the American Polar Society has both documented and communicated polar activities to the interested world. This meeting will bring together the current leaders in science, government, commerce, and diplomacy for a state-of-the-art forecast of the next seventy-five years in a world influenced more than ever before by the destiny of the Arctic and Antarctic. Click here.  

The Tenth International Conference on Permafrost, June 2012. The conference will be held in Tyumen, Russia, and is organized and hosted by Russia. The last conference was held in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2008. Click here.  

15th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, August 5-10, 2012. This event is sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Society for Circumpolar Health, and the International Union for Circumpolar Health.  The forum will consider community participatory research and indigenous research; women's health, family health, and well-being; food security and nutrition; social determinants of health; environmental and occupational health; infectious and chronic diseases; climate change health impacts; health service delivery and infrastructure; and behavioral health. Click here. 

Arctic/Inuit/Connections: Learning from the Top of the World , October 24-28, 2012.  The 18th Inuit Studies Conference, hosted by the Smithsonian Institution, will be held in Washington, DC. The conference will consider heritage museums and the North; globalization: an Arctic story; power, governance and politics in the North; the '"new" Arctic: social, cultural and climate change; and Inuit education, health, language, and literature. For more information, click here.