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March 27, 2012

Today's Eventstodaysevents 

 

The House is expected to finalize action on a small business legislative provision and a short-term extension of surface transportation programs. The Senate will resume consideration of a motion to proceed to a repeal of oil and gas tax preferences.

 

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Arctic MapArctic Council Negotiations in Stockholm. Close to 180 representatives from the Arctic Council's Member States, indigenous peoples and working groups will convene on 28-29 March during Stockholm Polar Week. The agenda will include one of the Swedish Chairmanship's most important tasks - strengthening the Arctic Council. "During the meeting in Stockholm, we hope to make a number of significant decisions on the regulatory framework for the Council's new standing secretariat in Tromsö," says Sweden's Arctic Ambassador Gustaf Lind. The Information Daily  

 

You Can't Replace Real Icebreakers. [Opinion] A rugged little ship adorns the back of the new $50 bill that the Bank of Canada began circulating Monday. But, in an ironic twist of fate, the red and white CCGS Amundsen no longer sails the Arctic seas. The 98-meter icebreaker was built in 1979 and originally named the CCGS Sir John Franklin. With 18,000 horsepower and a thick double hull, she could push steadily through one metre-thick sea ice and ram her way through much thicker ice ridges. The Globe and Mail 

 

Coast Guard SealCoast Guard Lays Out Plans to Monitor Arctic Alaska Oil Drilling, Ship Traffic. It's going to be a hectic summer for the US Coast Guard in the Arctic. Even if Arctic drilling protesters, who are expected this summer after stops in Seattle and Dutch Harbor, don't materialize, there will still be plenty to do, according to a Coast Guard report to the Alaska Legislature's Northern Waters Task Force. Shell plans to transport 300 workers to and from its two drill rigs on a weekly basis. Shipping traffic through the northern sea route above Russia will increase. "We do have some concerns up there," said Capt. Buddy Custard, chief of staff for the Coast Guard in Alaska. Alaska Dispatch 

 

defense spendingArctic Military Buildup Not Cause for Concern: Think Tank. A military buildup in the Arctic by the region's five border states is not necessarily cause for concern, Stockholm think tank SIPRI said in a report published March 26. There is "no basis for claims of an Arctic arms race," said the author of the report, Siemon Wezeman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. "While governments of the five Arctic states (Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States) have made protection of their Arctic territory a priority, the military buildup is limited," the report said. Defense News

 

To Drill or Not to Drill: Arctic Petroleum Development and Environmental Concerns. As the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly obvious, the Arctic has gained particular attention as being one of the most vulnerable places to the influence of increasing temperatures and changing conditions. Oil and gas activities are simultaneously increasing in the region due to the region's untapped potential, rising global demand for these resources, and new technological advances.With the expansion of these activities in northern Alaska, there have been concerns about the effects of noise pollution on marine life and the lack of oil spill preparedness. To map the consequences of such activities, the US government and oil and gas companies have conducted research; the conclusions, however, have been ambiguous. In the European Arctic, there are comprehensive studies exploring the effect of industrial activities stemming from onshore industries, fishing vessels, and oil and gas activity in the Barents Sea. Arctic Institute

 

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday. 

Future Events                                   

 

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 IPYmeetinglogotogether 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 CPClogoUSARC will be held in Montreal, Canada, in conjunction with the "From Knowledge to  

 

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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.

 

[Postponed]American Polar Society 75th Anniversary Meeting and Symposium, "The Polar Regions in the 21st Century: Globalization, Climate Change and Geopolitics", to occur in 2013, 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.  

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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 healthmeetinglogoindigenous 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

 

The Arctic Imperative Summit, August 24-28, 2012. The summit will be hosted by Alaska Dispatch and will bring together leading voices in this conversation, including residents from the small villages that comprise Alaska's coastal communities, state, national and international leaders, the heads of shipping and industry, as well as international policymakers and the news media. The goal of the summit is to sharpen the focus on the policy and investment needs of Alaska's Arctic through a series of high level meetings, presentations, investor roundtables and original research. 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 inuitconferencelogomuseums 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. 

 

 

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