Finland Secures Its Presence in Murmansk. The Centre will render information assistance to businessmen eyeing international cooperation within the Barents region. Barents Center Finland appoints Finpro as its official representative in North West of Russia. The Northern Finnish cities - Oulu, Rovaniemi, Tornio-Kemi, Kokkola, Raahe and Kemijarvi, counties and universities formed Barents Center Finland exactly one year ago. The main aim was to promote Finnish Arctic competence in mining, on-and off-shore, energy efficiency, energy saving, water purification, waste water and waste management within the Russian Barents area. Barents Nova

Sea-level Rise Will Cost $2 Trillion. As the seas rise, so will the costs associated with them. The impact of climate change on oceans alone could cost $2 trillion by the end of the century, according to a report by the Stockholm Environment Institute in Sweden. The report is part of a book, Valuing the Ocean, which is being compiled by the SEI for the UN's Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June. New Scientist 

Arctic Drilling Review Exposes Gaps in Northern Training: Aboriginal northerners want more from frontier exploration. Last September, the National Energy Board wrapped up its 16-month long Arctic Drilling Review with a five-day roundtable discussion in the Northwest Territories town of Inuvik. In amongst the presentations by industry, government, and even local high school students, one man asked a question about something very important to communities in the Beaufort Delta region where future Arctic offshore work in Canada will inevitably take place. "The training that usually comes to our communities is at the low end, so we end up with the low-end paying jobs," said Joshua Oliktoak. "It would be nice if we could get some real training into the communities at the community level, where it will be successful. And it would be nice if we could get some training where it's going to help us get work after the job is done within the region." Alberta Oil Magazine 

Insight: Shurb Height Affects Future Arctic Climate and Permafrost. The boreal trees and shrubs that are already invading the tundra regions of the north are expected to expand their territory even further as climate-change progresses. A study recently published in Environmental Research Letters indicates that invading shrubs will increasingly warm the northern high latitudes at a rate that depends on the height of the plants. "Changes in abundance and size of shrubs are frequently observed in these regions," says lead author Celine Bonfils of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, US. "Small shrubs are already present in most tundra areas, ready to grow under more favourable conditions but until now, most climate model studies have only focused on the climate effects induced by a complete tundra-to-forest conversion." Environmental Research Web 

Norway Leads Calls for EU Ban on Fish Discards: Fishing minister backs campaign to end waste amid fierce opposition from some member states. Giving up the wasteful practice of discarding edible fish at sea is not only possible, but can result in greater profits for fishermen, according to the fisheries minister in Norway, which has banned the practice. Up to two-thirds of the fish caught in some European waters are thrown back dead because of the way the EU's common fisheries policy works. Proposals to end the waste have faced opposition from fishing groups and some EU member states, several of which attempted to scupper the ban at a meeting in Brussels on Monday. In the end, the attempt to block a ban on discards did not materialise, in part because of strong opposition from the public and high-profile campaigns such as FishFight initiative spearheaded by the TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. But the issue will be discussed by European legislators several times this year before going to a final vote. The Guardian 

Fiber Optic Cables Being Laid Beneath Arctic Ocean Thanks to Receding Ice. Melting ice in the Arctic may not be so good for polar bears, but it's definitely useful when it comes to laying down fibre optic cables beneath the ocean. Three cable projects are looking to do just this, utilizing the reduced ice between August and October to lay down cables that connect Tokyo to London. The Arctic Fiber project, for instance, will span 15,600 kilometers, running through the Northwest Passage of the Arctic Ocean. It will feature optical amplifiers to boost signal strength every 50 to 100 kilometers, and is expected to reduce latency between England and Japan from 230 milliseconds to 168ms. A second project called Arctic Link will run a similar route, spanning 15,840km, while the Russian Optical Trans-Arctic Submarine Cable System is expected to run 14,700km along the Russian coast. These cables come with their own sets of problems - they require ice breakers to clear the way and polar-ice rated ships to actually lay down the cable - and they're expensive, with estimated costs running between $600 million and $1.5 billion each. The Verge 

International Polar Year Conference: From Knowledge to Action. Press Registration is now open for the forthcoming International Polar Year Conference: From Knowledge to Action to be held from 22-27 April 2012, Montréal, Canada. The IPY 2012 From Knowledge to Action Conference will be one of the largest and most important scientific conferences for polar science and climate change, impacts and adaptation. Keynote presentations, thought-provoking panel discussions and workshops will provide the focal points for translating polar knowledge into actions that will enable people to live in, adapt to, or benefit from, our changing world. PhysOrg.com