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Monday 22 August 2011 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lene Espersen, the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, Kaj Leo Johannesen, and Premier for the Government of Greenland, Kuupik Kleist, presented Denmark's strategy for the Arctic from 2011 to 2020. It has been elaborated by Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2011/8/denmark%2C_greenland_and_the_faroe_islands_adopt_new_strategy_for_the_arctic
Canada hosted the meeting of the Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR) Working Group of the Arctic Council in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory which took place June 15-16, 2011.
http://arctic-council.org/eppr_meets_in_canada_E28099s_yukon_territory
The Swedish Chairmanship 2011-2013
http://arctic-council.org/next_stop_luleaa
Denmark has elected a new SAO; Nauja Bianco will represent Denmark, Greenland and Faroe Islands in the Arctic Council.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2011/6/new_danish_sao
Today, foreign ministers and leaders of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic Council met to set out future policy for the Council.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2011/5/arctic_council_ministers_sign_agreement
Shortly after arrival in Nuuk, the Arctic countries' ministers and indigenous peoples' heads of delegation met for an amiable dinner at the historic Hans Egede House.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2011/5/nuuk_meeting_preparations
Foreign Minister of Denmark, Lene Espersen and Premier of Greenland, Kuupik Kleist, are hosting the Arctic Council Minsterial Meeting in Nuuk.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2011/5/ac_ministerial
The 7th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting is fast approaching. The meeting takes place in Katuaq, the Nuuk Cultural Center, on 12 May 2011.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2011/4/nuuk_preparations
I think it is very important for youth to take an active role in Arctic issues and the Arctic Council is a perfect avenue to obtain this goal, says Amy
http://arctic-council.org/article/2011/5/the_arctic_council_attracts_youth
It is spring time in Nuuk and the snow has melted on the roads
http://arctic-council.org/things_to_do_and_see_in_nuuk
Thirty scientists, managers and community experts met in Vancouver, Canada, with the purpose to develop a technical report on what effects sea-ice reduction has on biodiversity in the Arctic. The Arctic Council Working Group on Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), organized and managed the workshop.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2011/4/effects_of_sea-ice_loss_on_biodiversity
In Nuuk, Greenland on 12 May 2011, Foreign Ministers representing the eight Arctic States, Permanent Participants representing the Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic, and Arctic Council Observers and Non-Government Organizations, will meet to discuss future challenges in the Arctic.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2011/3/nuuk_ministerial
On 19-21 February 2011 twenty-two scientists, managers and community experts from Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and the United States met in Edmonton, Canada, to develop a Pan-Arctic Monitoring Plan for Polar Bears.
http://arctic-council.org/international_monitoring_plan_for_polar_bears
http://arctic-council.org/climate_change_and_pops_predicting_the_impacts
(Nicola Clark and Liz Robbins/New York Times, 15 April 2010) -- PARIS - A dark and spectacular volcanic cloud shrouded much of northern Europe on Thursday, forcing airlines to cancel thousands of flights as it drifted at high altitude south and east from an erupting volcano in Iceland. The shutdown of airspace was one of the most sweeping ever ordered in peacetime, amid fears that travel could continue to be delayed days after the cloud dissipates. The cloud, made up of minute particles of silicate that can severely damage jet engines, left airplanes stranded on the tarmac at some of the worlds busiest airports as it spread over Britain and toward continental Europe. The volcano erupted Wednesday for the second time in a month, forcing evacuations and causing flooding about 75 miles east of Reykjavik, Icelands capital. Matthew Watson, a specialist at Bristol University in England in the study of volcanic ash clouds, said the plume was likely to end up over Belgium, Germany, the Lowlands a good portion over Europe, and was unlikely to dissipate for 24 hours or more. Even then, any resumption of flights would not be immediate, said John Lampl, a British Airways spokesman in New York. For several days youll have crews and airplanes in the wrong places, he said. It will take a few days to sort it out. ... The ash from the volcano, Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced EYE-a-fyat-la-jo-kutl), was reported to be drifting at 18,000 to 33,000 feet above the earth. At those altitudes, the cloud is directly in the way of commercial airliners but not an immediate health threat to people on the ground, the International Volcanic Health Hazard Network, based in Britain, said on its Web site.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/world/europe/16ash.html
Information and press contact makes the SAO Chair’s working day busy.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2010/4/from_the_chairs_desk
(CBC News, 1 April 2010) -- RBC is introducing Cree and Inuktitut two of the most commonly spoken indigenous languages in the country to its multi-language telephone service, the bank said Wednesday. RBC says it is the first Canadian financial institution to offer telephone services in these languages. Nunavut Minister of Languages Louis Tapardjuk praised the bank's announcement Wednesday, saying all organizations operating in the territory will eventually have to offer such services. "Of course this is the homeland of the Inuit, so those requiring services should not feel alienated in their homeland," said Louis Tapardjuk. Launched in 2008, RBC's multi-language telephone service has more than 2,600 interpreters working in 180 different languages to help with business and personal banking. Service in Cree and Inuktitut begins immediately. "Canada is home to a variety of languages that many organizations do not recognize, or have the capacity to service through translation," Dale Sturges, national director, aboriginal banking, RBC, said in a news release. Phil Fontaine, former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations and special adviser to RBC, says access to banking services plays an important role in wealth creation in aboriginal communities. "Cree is spoken by approximately 117,000 people and there are roughly 35,000 Canadians who speak Inuktitut, making them two of the most common indigenous languages spoken across the country," Fontaine said in a news release.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2010/04/01/north-rbc-inuktitut-cree-banking.html
The next SAO Meeting is going to take place in Ilulissat, near the world famous icefjord.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2010/3/sao_meeting_in_ilulissat
The Actic regional economies are strongly dependent on their mother economies in the south
http://arctic-council.org/article/2010/3/new_book_about_arctic_economies
A new assessment of the Arctic’s biodiversity reports a 26 per cent decline in species populations in the high Arctic.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2010/3/high_arctic_species_on_thin_ice
An integrated approach for social datasets will lead to a better understanding of the cross cutting issues between social and environmental science.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2010/3/successfull_roundtable
The Arctic Council Working Groups are preparing the upcoming SAO Meeting in Ilulissat, Greenland
http://arctic-council.org/article/2010/3/wg_chairs_shared_experiences
In Denmark Ms.Lene Espersen was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs on 23 February 2010.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2010/2/new_arctic_council_chair
(BarentsObserver, 19 February 2010) -- A Russian government service is to evaluate a report on the exploration of the shelf west of the Yamal Peninsula. The Russian Service on Ecological, Technological and Nuclear control is to conduct a state evaluation of materials on the mapping of the waters west of the Yamal Peninsula, the government body informs on its website. The waters outside Yamal are along with the Kara Sea believed to contain major amounts of hydrocarbons, and first of all natural gas. Gazprom is currently in the process of developing land-based fields in the Yamal Peninsula. Those fields, among them the huge Bovanenkovo field, could pave the way also for offshore developments. It is Gazprom which has the licenses to the fields in the area. The Ministry of Natural Resources will, in the course of February, publish a report on the development of the Russian shelf, RIA Novosti reports.
http://www.barentsobserver.com/preparing-for-exploration-off-yamal.4749806.html
(CBC News, 14 February 2010) -- Canada is going to close its ports to vessels from the Faroe Islands and Greenland on Monday because of shrimp overfishing, federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said Sunday. The Faroes and Greenland have refused to abide by quotas set by the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), which sets catch limits for each member. "We have acted in good faith for several years to try to resolve this issue, to no avail," Shea said in a news release. Canada originally closed its ports to vessels from the Faroes and Greenland in December 2004, but reopened them in March 2008 as a sign of good faith. Now, however, the minister has followed up on a warning issued Jan. 26, when she said the ports would be closed unless the Faroes and Greenland withdrew an objection to the NAFO shrimp quota in NAFO area 3L, in the north Atlantic east of St. John's beyond Canada's 200-mile limit. Denmark, which acts on behalf of the Faroes and Greenland in international matters, unilaterally set a 3L shrimp quota of 3,101 tonnes, almost 10 times greater than their NAFO quota of 334 tonnes. "Their continued overfishing is unacceptable," Shea said on Jan. 26. The minister said Sunday she would be willing to meet her counterparts from the Faroes and Greenland to resolve the issue "at their earliest convenience." Both the Faroe Islands and Greenland are self-governing overseas administrative divisions of Denmark.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/02/14/faroe-greenland-shrimp-shea.html
(Business Week, 3 February 2010) -- ANCHORAGE - U.S. Rep. Don Young has introduced a bill aimed at studying the potential for an Arctic deep water port. The measure is a companion bill to one introduced in December by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Young,
a fellow Alaska Republican, says the measure will provide for a
two-year study to determine strategic capabilities for an Arctic port
and a favorable location. Young says the United States
has the opportunity to address the prospects of future industry and can
use changing Arctic conditions its advantage. This legislation has been referred to the House Armed Services Committee.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9DKUOK80.htm
The President of Iceland suggested a Himalayan Council modelled on the experiences from the Arctic Council when he received the Nehru Award.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2010/2/gr_C3ADmsson_suggests_a_himalayan_council
The Arctic Council is an important player on the international scene. It was one of the key messages from the Arctic Frontiers conference.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2010/1/credits_to_the_arctic_council
(Mark Iype and Allison Cross/National Post, 25 January 2010) -- A hunter who was stranded on an Arctic ice floe for nearly four days is finally safe after a military rescue team plucked him off the ice yesterday afternoon. A military rescue team had been trying for days to reach David Idlout, trapped since Friday on a floe in the Northwest Passage near one of Canada's most northern communities. The team had been repeatedly hindered by bad weather. They were finally able to reach Mr. Idlout with a military helicopter at about 3 p.m. local time, said Capt. Pierre Bolduc, from the search-and-rescue co-ordination centre in Trenton, Ont. "He was cold, tired but otherwise in good health," said Capt. Bolduc, adding that Mr. Idlout didn't need any medical treatment. Mr. Idlout was flown to the airport in his nearby hometown of Resolute, Nunavut, and his family was there to greet him, Capt. Bolduc said.
http://www.nationalpost.com/most-popular/story.html?id=2483680
The Arctic Tern is the champion of long-distance migration. Impressive results from a project coordinated by CAFF.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2010/1/from_pole_to_pole
(CBC News, 12 January 2010) -- People on the north coast of Labrador want Bell Aliant's communication infrastructure improved after ice toppled a transmission tower last week, leaving them without internet and long distance phone services. "If this was somewhere else in Newfoundland, we'd probably have crews in from the States helping. So I don't think it's good enough," said Charlotte Wolfrey, who lives in Rigolet. Its service was restored by last Friday. Stormy weather kept a Bell Aliant crew away from the damaged tower at Double Mer, north of Rigolet, until last weekend. Company spokesperson Isabelle Robinson said an estimated 30 tonnes of ice had built up on the tower before it collapsed. She said the circumstances were extraordinary. "This infrastructure has been in place for many, many years, and it's built to be outdoors and withstand some weather," Robinson told CBC News Tuesday. "But certainly given the extraordinary circumstances that we've had here, it's certainly difficult to plan for these types of weather circumstances and have a backup infrastructure in place." Robinson says the company is prepared for many problems such as power outages. It has onsite generators and can reroute circuits to solve some breakdowns. Five locations, including Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik, Natuashish and Postville remained without long distance telephone and internet services on Tuesday. They've lost those services on Jan. 6. There's still no estimate on when all services on Labrador's north coast will be restored.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/01/12/nl-labrador-phones-112.html
(Mary Pemberton/Anchorage Daily News, 24 December 2009) -- Crews on Wednesday were continuing to remove snow contaminated with oil
from an area around a well house where a pipe broke in the Prudhoe Bay
oil field. Tom DeRuyter, the state's on-scene spill
coordinator, said the area around the well house is misted with oil. He
said 72 cubic yards of contaminated snow -- most of it from the well
house's gravel pad -- have been removed, but there is more to go. The spill was discovered Monday morning by a BP oil field operator
doing a routine inspection. The break in the 6-inch line occurred where
the production line left the well house. The cause of the break is not yet known, DeRuyter said. "The case is going to be under investigation as to why the line parted," he said. BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said the well line broke at a weld and
released an estimated 3 gallons of oil and 131 gallons of water. The
estimation was reached by considering how much oil and water the pipe
normally carried and how quickly the automatic shut-off valve worked,
he said.
http://www.adn.com/money/industries/oil/story/1068072.html
(Catherine Farley/Toronto Star, 19 December 2009) -- Homegrown science supports Al Gore's warning at the Copenhagen climate conference this week that polar ice is melting faster than previously believed. Dr. David Barber, director of Winnipeg's Centre for Earth Observation Science, now predicts the Arctic could be free of summer ice and navigable within the decade, saying the ice cap is shrinking and deteriorating. On an expedition in September to check out an apparent recovery of the polar cap in the Beaufort Sea, Barber's team found instead a heavily decayed honeycomb structure of ice, weakened by years of melting and refreezing. Barber calls it "rotten" ice. He says his ship easily plowed through what satellite images suggested was good, solid ice. He has no idea how much of the cap is rotten. Fifty years ago, only 10 per cent of the Arctic cap would melt in summer and reform during the long, dark winter. Now, more than two-thirds melts and refreezes each year. Barber blames the wild temperature fluctuations at the poles. "Temperature change at the poles has been three times greater than the rest of the Earth," he says. While the Earth's average temperature has gone up 0.7°C in the last 30 years, the Arctic has increased 2 degrees. NASA scientists reported earlier this year that Arctic ice has thinned more than 60 centimetres in four years, while the volume of old ice has dropped 40 per cent. The smaller the mass, the faster it melts.
http://www.thestar.com/news/sciencetech/environment/article/740882--something-s-rotten-under-the-arctic-cap
The Arctic indigenous peoples are a valuable contribution to the work of the Arctic Council.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/12/inuit_and_arctic_indigenous_peoples_day
The mobilization of everybody is vital, said Prince Albert of Monaco.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/12/royal_visit_at_arctic_venue
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark at COP15: The time for action is now.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/12/the_melting_accelerates
Arctic Venue – a side event to COP 15 – was inaugurated by the SAO Chair Lars Møller. The Arctic Venue presents a broad range of Arctic knowledge.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/12/an_excellent_idea
A unique opportunity to learn more about the Arctic climate
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/11/arctic_venue_at_cop_15
(CBC News, 17 November 2009) --Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak says she is not giving up hope that Canada will make a strong commitment to dealing with climate change at a United Nations conference next month in Copenhagen. Aariak responded Monday to recent comments made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who said it was unrealistic to expect world leaders meeting in Copenhagen to reach a full agreement on deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Aariak said she plans to tell leaders about how the changing climate is already affecting Inuit lifestyles and hunting methods, as well as voice her concerns to the federal government. "I think it's very important for us to be involved at all levels and keep pushing for the ultimate ideal decision to deal with the climate change issues," Aariak told CBC News. The premier acknowledged recent criticism from Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada president Duane Smith, who said the three northern territories are not being vocal enough with their climate change concerns. Smith has also said the territories are not acting quickly enough to introduce greener alternatives to burning fossil fuels. But Aariak said Nunavut is making progress, even with limited resources.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2009/11/17/nunavut-premier-copenhagen.html
In a successful two-day meeting in Copenhagen, the Arctic Council Senior Arctic Officials approved a number of reports and from the Council’s working groups and discussed two new task forces.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/11/the_arctic_council_prepares_for_cop_15
More than 200 participants in a Arctic Council Meeting in Copenhagen
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/11/sao_meeting_started
The Arctic Report Cards are a timely source of clear, reliable and concise information on the state of the Arctic
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/10/the_state_of_the_arctic
Keeping the peace and stability in the Arctic is our main responsibility, says the Senior Arctic Official Chair of the Arctic Council
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/10/the_arctic_is_an_area_of_peace
The newly appointed head of the Arctic Council Secretariat has lot of experience in foreign affairs.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/9/new_head_of_secretariat
In a recently held meeting the SAO Chair and the working groups discussed the implementation of the decisions in the Tromsø Declaration
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/9/the_first_working_group_chairs_meeting_under_the_danish_chairmanship
Several risk scenarios were trained when Russia hosted the fourth Barents Rescue exercise in Murmansk.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/9/four_countries_in_one_exercise
Mr. Ban Ki-moon took a strong notice of the decreasing glaciers in the North
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/9/un_general_secretary_in_the_arctic
Mr. Ban Ki-moon took a strong notice of the decreasing glaciers in the North
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/9/un_general_secretary_in_the_arctic
The warmest summer ever creates erosion and melting of the permafrost on Baffin Island.
http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/9/erosion_threatens_nunavut
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