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February 16, 2012

Today's Eventstodaysevents 

 

The Senate will resume consideration of the surface transportation authorization. The House will consider legislation regarding shale oil leasing on public lands.


MediaMedia 

 

Norway Asked to Reduce Salmon Netting. The Russian Government and the European Union (EU) Fisheries Commission support the North Atlantic Salmon Fund's (NASF) campaign to curb Norwegian salmon netting. Since 1994, NASF and its international partners have pushed to close the Norwegian commercial salmon fishery in Finnmark because of the nets' environmental impact. NASF members believe nets are ruining Norway's rivers and taking native salmon to rivers in Russia and Finland. A recent study found that 60-70 per cent of the biggest salmon killed by Norwegian nets are Russian and Finnish. FIS  

 

Coastal Management Bill Remains Possible. [Alaska] Members of the Republican-led House Majority Caucus, that are expected to decide the fate of the Coastal Management program in the Legislature this year, say there is still chance for a bill. "We are having some very serious discussions with some Majority members about it," said Rep. Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak, House Majority leader. Austerman's comments to reporters Monday were the first public statements from the caucus, that controls the House of Representatives, since Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell said last week it appeared an initiative petition to place the question of restoring the program has enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Juneau Empire 

 

[Canadian] Defense Officials Admit They Have No Plan B on F-35s. Senior defence officials admit they don't have a "Plan B" to deal with delays in the F-35 jetfighter program. They claim they don't need one because recent upgrades to Canada's CF-18 mean the fighter-bombers can "easily" stay in the air to 2020 and beyond. The Harper government, however, may still be looking for a F-35 alternative. CTV News 

 

SARInuit Organization Calls for Better Arctic Search and Rescue: ITK says better training for local people is needed. A national Inuit organization is calling for improvements to Arctic search and rescue. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) has waded into the debate sparked by the death this month of Labrador teenager Burton Winters. ITK is urging Ottawa to make a plan for rescue and disaster response in Canada's remote northern communities. "I think the government felt that they could not put search and rescue in every community. But that is not what we are asking for - we are asking for a better system that will allow our people to be trained better to do search and rescue and to have the equipment that they need to do search and rescue. So there are different ways of improving it," said Mary Simon, ITK's president. CBC News 

 

russian flagRussian General Sends Arctic Warning to USA: We will not accept US vessels operating in our part of the Arctic if equipped with Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Systems. Nikolai Makarov, leader of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, stresses that Russia will take the necessary countermeasures if US vessels with Aegis systems are moved to northern waters or to the Black Sea. Talking to journalists, Russia's highest-ranking military official underlined that the appearance of US vessels in northern Russian waters will definitely "pose a threat." Barents Observer

 

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

  

No Arctic legislation was considered yesterday.

Future Events                                   

         

Pew: Arctic Ocean Energy Development, February 24, 2012. (** New space and additional RSVPs will be accepted**)The Pew Environment Group will host a panel discussion on Arctic Ocean energy development. Panelist will be Fran Ulmer, member of the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission, and now Chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, Michael R. Bromwich, former director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement; Edward Itta, former mayor of North Slope Borough, Alaska; and Vice Adm. Roger T. Rufe, U.S. Coast Guard (retired). Marilyn Heiman, director of Pew's U.S. Arctic Program, will moderate. The speakers will address the challenges facing energy exploration in the U.S. Arctic Ocean, such as oil spill response, Coast Guard readiness, infrastructure needs, and how to best protect wildlife habitat and subsistence areas. 

 

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 INSTAARhigh-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 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.

 

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.  

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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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