Arctic Portal has been formally accepted as a member of the University of the Arctic. This was confirmed today at the 15th UArctic Council meeting in Tromsö, Norway.
Arctic Portal is proud to receive this honor, joining several established institutions and universities all over the world in the prestige UArctic member list.
UArctic and Arctic Portal have worked together on numerous issues for a long time and it is warmly welcomed to strengthen our bond even further.
UArctic is “a cooperative network of universities, colleges, and other organizations committed to higher education and research in the North. Our members share resources,facilities, and expertise to build post-secondary education programs that are relevant and accessible to northern students. Our overall goal is to create a strong, sustainable circumpolar region by empowering northerners and northern communities through education and shared knowledge.”
After the grand opening ceremony the sessions started under the six themes. You almost feel that it is a shame that all of this is happening at once since there are always more than one interesting sessions occurring at any given moment so choosing between them is quite a challenge.
The polar Expo is located in a very large area and has almost all things polar on display ranging from small posters to massive arctic vehicles. The polar information commons were officially launched 16:15 and aims to insure that the IPY data legacy are more generally open and accessible and safely preserved for future generations.
COP15 president Connie Hedegaard resigned this morning. Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen will replace her as head of the Conference. Hedegaard has maintained herself that nothing dramatic is behind her resignation and that she will continue her work as a negotiator in the COP15 as a special representative of Mr. Lokke Rasmussen. Over 100 heads of States will arrive to Copenhagen for the last three days of negotiations and it is only natural that the Danish Prime Minister takes over the presidency of the Conference at this point, she said.
China, India and other developing nations boycotted Climate talks today, as a protest and to demand that rich countries discuss a far more extensive cut in their emissions. This is believed to include 135 nations, which will refuse to participate in any formal working groups until the issue was resolved. This has to bee seen as a setback for the talks, and illustrates the long-term dispute between rich and poor nations over emissions cuts and financing cuts to deal with climate change. This has however not been interpreted as the talks are falling apart al together but rather as a ploy intended to move the agenda to the responsibilities of the industrial countries before the arrival of over 100 world leaders are scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen.
So far the major issues around the Copenhagen COP15 have concentrated on the participation of world leaders to one of the biggest gathering in the field of environmental law and politics. The aim is to reach an agreement on post-Kyoto CO2 emission reduction. Many leading scientists maintain that the world’s CO2 rate has reached dangerous levels and that if nothing is done to reduce the emissions the world will face unprecedented consequences. Legally binding agreement for the world’s leading polluters is inevitably necessary, but it is debatable whether the political will of states is enough to create any change.
Guardian / cop15.dk – There seems to be a great change coming in the climate change negotiations, after the “Danish” draft of an agreement was leaked to media yesterday. The developing countries accuse the draft of being a legalisation of the developing / industrialized division in the world and contributing to the already existing problems in the developing countries. The UNFCCC head Yvo de Boer on the other hand said that only an informal paper is in question and that formal proposals will be only provided by the Chairs of the Conference.
Now when almost all the major players have announced their emission reduction targets, the talk has turned to money and the ways the battle against climate change can be financed. The US has proposed that a new climate fund should be established under the World Bank, which would direct funding to climate projects in developing countries. Further, the Asian Development Bank intends to direct 700 million dollars to two new investment funds that will primarily concentrate on financing climate change projects in developing countries. In short term, it has been estimated, that some 10 billion dollars are needed to cover the costs of the most current developments. In long term, some 100 billion dollars a year might be needed to cover the costs of climate change adaptation.
Arctic Council
The Times – As aspired as a new global climate change agreement in Copenhagen is, it has begun to seem that an agreement with almost any content is enough. One of the world’s leading climate change scientists, James Hansen from Nasa’s Goddard Institute, has expressed his doubts on the existing emission trade system comparing it to selling indulgences. Rich countries buy emission credits from developing countries with relatively small amounts and contribute that way to the existing economic inbalance between industrialized and developing countries. The system in itself is not designed to reduce emissions, but rather to create an image of reduction and equality, though failing in both. Very few open discussions have taken place on what exactly should be the content of the new agreement and little or none public evaluation on the success or failure of the Kyoto protocol has taken place.