About the Conference

Conference Organization and Structure:

The conference will include talks by invited keynote speakers, oral presentations selected on the basis of submitted abstracts, poster presentations and short (3 minute) oral presentations of selected posters. A panel discussion will develop messages to be communicated to the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting that will take place in Greenland one week after the Conference.

Abstracts

Abstracts for proposed oral and poster presentation have been forwarded to the Conference organizers. Selection of oral and poster presentations will be announced in late February.

APECS Early Career Researcher Workshop

May 3 – the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) will hold a workshop entitled Young Scientists‘ Arctic Messages to Policy Makers. The results of the workshop will be reported to the panel discussion on the last day of the Conference.

Who Should Attend

Scientists, decision–makers, Ph.D. students, administrators, managers, health care officials, indigenous peoples, representatives of industry and non-governmental organizations.

Venue for the Conference:

• Radisson Blu Falconer Hotel and Conference Center
• Falkoner Allé 9
• DK–2000 Copenhagen F

Venue for the APECS Early Career Researcher Workshop

the venue for the APECS Early Carreer Researcher Workshop remains:

• University of Copenhagen
• Room: Lokale Bisp 325 og Bisp 302
• Bispetorvet 1–3
• DK–1167 Copenhagen K
• Copenhagen

Venue for the Icebreaker Reception, Thursday May 3rd, 17.00 – 20.30

The Icebreaker reception will be held at:

• Festsalen
• Frue Plads 4
• DK–1168 Copenhavn K
• Copenhagen

Early registration will also be possible during the Icebreaker reception.

View Venues, The Arctic as a Messenger in a larger map

Background

Over the past 20-30 years, our knowledge and understanding of the Arctic has expanded rapidly against the backdrop of concerns about climate change and pollution. The linkages between the Arctic and the rest of the World mean that Arctic science has come to play an increasingly prominent role in the public consciousness and the concerns of policy-makers. Key to these developments has been the cooperation on science in the post-Cold War era - initially between the Arctic countries and later extending to the global scientific community - that formed the basis for the International Polar Year 2007/2008 and the establishment of internationally coordinated monitoring and assessment efforts that have provided vital information necessary for science-based decision-making.

Over the past 20 years, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) has played a central role in these developments. Established by the eight Arctic Countries in 1991, and now one of the groups serving the Arctic Council AMAP is charged with coordinating monitoring and performing scientific assessments of pollution and climate change issues in the circum Arctic area to document trends and effects in Arctic ecosystems and humans and identify possible actions for consideration by policy-makers.

AMAP has produced several highly-valuedscience based assessment reports over the years. At this conference AMAP will present the results of its most recent assessments,including the 2011 SWIPA (Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic) assessment and the 2011 AMAP Mercury assessment. Recently updated assessments on human health and other pollution issues such as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and radioactivity will also be addressed. The SWIPA assessment was initiated as a follow-up to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) and will produce information that will feed into the next IPCC report. The mercury assessment includes contributions to the process currently ongoing under UNEP to establish a global agreement on mercury while the POP assessment is providing data of relevance for the Stockholm Convention.

Co-Chairs

Scientific Committee

Organizing Committee

Conference Sponsors

• Aarhus University
• Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)
• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC)
• Ministry of Energy and Climate, Denmark
• Ministry of the Environment, Denmark
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway
• Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM)
• University of Copenhagen

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