Scientists, policy makers meet March 14-20
Ross Virginia, director of Dartmouth's Institute for Arctic Studies, speaks on
climate change at the Hood Museum of Art Feb. 20. Virginia is one of the
organizers of this month's Arctic Science Summit Week. (Photo by Sarah
Memmi)
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More than 200 scientists, engineers, policy makers and representatives of
native peoples will convene at Dartmouth March 14 through 20 for Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW), a rare
chance for international coordination between science, governance, and social
policy with the shared goal of better understanding and protecting the
Arctic.
The summit falls at the start of International
Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008. IPY is an intensive, global campaign of
coordinated polar observations and analysis with special relevance to
understanding climate change and its consequences. The Dartmouth meeting is an
inaugural event for the United States and its international involvement in IPY.
The seven-day summit will provide opportunities for collaboration and
cooperation in all areas of Arctic science. The ASSW will offer insight into
Arctic research undertaken by the United States and its connections to the
international polar community. Side meetings organized by other groups with
interests in Arctic science and policy will take place at the same time.
"ASSW has a special relevance now, in light of the recently issued
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report," says summit
organizer Ross
Virginia, director of the Institute of Arctic Studies within
the Dickey Center for International
Understanding. "Based on the findings of the IPCC, there can be no
doubt that climate change is here and it's real. The scientists and policy
makers convening for ASSW are relevant to both the science that has gone into
the IPCC and the solutions that will take us forward." Virginia is also a
professor of environmental studies.
A panel titled "The Human Dimension: Policy Challenges of a Changing
Arctic," will focus on exploring the international community's
preparedness to deal with the environmental, political, economic, security,
health, and social aspects of climate change in the North. Dickey Center
Director and former U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Yalowitz says that it will
"address the policy challenges of a changing Arctic, while building on the
work of the Dickey Center and Dartmouth to promote collaborative solutions by
governments, the academy, and native peoples. The Dickey Center emphasizes
finding interdisciplinary solutions to pressing issues of global
scale."
Other features of the program include the March 14 symposium,
"Technology for Innovative Observation" that will address innovations
in techniques and technologies that further polar research and the observation
of global change.
From March 14 through 20, Arctic Science Summit Week will address both the
environmental and social consequences of climate change in the Arctic. (Photo
by Milos Peric/IStockPhoto.com)
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March 15 has been designated as Science Day, to emphasize the New
International Science Partnerships forged by IPY and will feature talks by
leading scientists on the state of the Arctic and its future. The public is
invited to attend all conference sessions that day. Virginia says it is
"specifically designed to reach out beyond the scientific community about
the work polar researchers do."
The following day will be Project Day, during which the participants will
address the legacy of IPY and the development of sustainable funding and
partnerships for polar research. On the concluding day of the summit, titled
Common Day, working groups will present the outcomes of the planning meetings,
and coordinate upcoming actions.
Immediately following the summit, the ASSW organizing committee plans to
release a summary on the findings and the conclusions reached by the
participants.
The summit is co-hosted by the Dickey Center for International Understanding
and its Institute of Arctic Studies, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold
Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL). The ASSW organizations
include the International Arctic Sciences
Committee, the Arctic Ocean Sciences
Board, the
European Polar Board, the Pacific Arctic Group, and the Forum of Arctic Research Operators.
Other participants include the U.S. Polar
Research Board, University of the Arctic,
Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, and
national representatives of the IPY.
For more details, visit the Arctic Science
Summit Week Web site or call 646-1278.
By GENEVIEVE HAAS
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