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Arctic Council News
 

Focus on: Climate and Green Energy Solutions
Icebergs

 

Climate and Green Energy Solutions - An Icelandic Priority

Climate and green energy solutions rank as priorities during Iceland's two-year Arctic Council Chairmanship. Under Iceland's lead, the Arctic Council will continue observing and assessing climate impacts on Arctic marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, and an update report on Arctic climate change will be prepared for the 2021 Ministerial meeting in Reykjavík. Learn more about Iceland’s ambitions in its Chairmanship program and this edition of the Arctic Council newsletter. 

Building knowledge and confidence in the Arctic


Editorial by Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson,
Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials


As we learn more about the challenges we face in the Arctic, it becomes clearer by the day that collaboration with partners outside the region is needed in order to effectively tackle them. What is more, non-Arctic states around the globe are waking up to the fact that what happens in and to the Arctic has direct and widespread effects on them.
Read the full editorial.
Sea ice


A closer look at sea ice - Interview with AMAP expert


The sea ice cover of the Arctic Ocean drops to a minimum in early fall. We asked Sebastian Gerland, geophysicist from the Norwegian Polar Institute and contributor to many Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) reports, about the current state of sea ice. In our interview, Sebastian speaks about the shrinking Arctic sea ice cover and why it's important to not just look at the annual minimum extent to understand trends and effects of a changing Arctic. Read the interview here.
 
river in Iceland


Planning for a greener Arctic future


Many Arctic communities rely on fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation. To successfully turn to clean energy, they need a solid plan – a Community Energy Plan – to define their energy goals. A need the Gwich’in Council International recognized, and thus reached out to the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) with a project proposal for an Arctic Sustainable Energy Futures Toolkit. Learn more.
 


Arctic freshwater ecosystems at the brink


Climate change and development threaten the health of Arctic freshwater ecosystems. Continued warming push cold-water species unique to the Arctic to the brink of regional loss, and increase the likelihood of toxic cyanobacteria blooms. This summarizes findings from the State of the Arctic Freshwater Biodiversity Report released by the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Working Group. Learn more about the report and discover the key findings.
 
Reindeer


Clean and reliable energy solutions in the Arctic


Energy security is an essential issue for remote, off-grid communities in the Arctic. The Arctic Contaminants Action Program's (ACAP) tundra project piloted alternative, clean and reliable energy solutions at a reindeer herding station in Polmos, an off-grid site located 70 km from Lovozero village, the Russian Sami capital. To learn more about the project, watch the tundra project video clip and download ACAP's fact sheet.
 
Windmill


Knowledge Base of Climate and Green Energy Solutions


The list of climate and energy related matters that the Arctic Council's six Working Groups are investigating is broad. A selection of the newest reports, released at the 2019 Ministerial meeting in Rovaniemi, and current resources, are listed below. To get the full overview, browse our Open Access Repository.


Working Group meeting super week


During the second week of September three of our Working Groups held their first meetings during the Icelandic Chairmanship: the Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP), the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group, and the Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG). 

ACAP 
The ACAP Working Group meeting took place in Tromsø, Norway, 10-12 September. Besides Expert Group meetings and a plenary, ACAP organized an open workshop on contaminants in the Arctic with experts from the FRAM Centre in Tromsø and invited guests. In addition, ACAP hosted a CLEO Network (Circumpolar Local Environmental Observation) workshop. (Picture top left)

PAME
PAME held its Working Group meeting in Reykjavik and the island Videy, Iceland, 9-12 September. The issue of marine plastics was the main focus of the meeting. The Arctic Council’s designated special coordinator on plastics, marine litter, Magnús Jóhannesson, gave a lecture on the issue. One highlight during the meeting was the launch of PAME’s first “plastic in a bottle”, which was released by Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, Iceland’s Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources. (Picture on the right)

SDWG
SDWG’s Working Group meeting started with an executive meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, on 10 September, followed by a thematic conference on 'Strengths, Well-Being and Engagement of Youth in the Arctic'. SDWG delegates then travelled to Ísafjörður for the plenary meeting. During the meeting, four projects were adopted: a project on blue bioeconomy, Arctic Remote Energy Networks Academy (ARENA) 2, and follow-ups to project CREATeS and the EALLU project. (Picture bottom left)

 
PAME relases first plastic in a bottle

PAME releases first ‘plastic in a bottle’ into the Atlantic


The Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group launched the first bottle equipped with a GPS transmitter into the Atlantic on 12 September 2019. Called “plastic in a bottle”, the capsule will simulate how marine litter and plastics travel far distances into and out of Arctic waters. The collected data will serve as an outreach tool to create awareness around the growing concerns on marine litter in the Arctic. Read the news release. 
 

Canadian Ambassador presents Inuit art to the Secretariat


H.E.Canadian Ambassador Patrick Parisot from the Embassy of Canada to Norway presented the Arctic Council Secretariat with two sculptures by Inuit artists from Gjoa Haven: Drum Dancer by Louie Makkituq and Fisherman by John Keknek. Their artwork found their way to Norway through a close relationship with the Fram Museum - a cooperation, which ensures that all profits go directly to the artists. The ACS would like to thank Canada very much for the generous gift.
 

US Ambassador visits Arctic Council Secretariat 


H.E. US Ambassador Kenneth Braithwaite from the U.S. Embassy in Oslo met with ACS director Nina Buvang Vaaja to discuss the role and work of the Arctic Council. Expressing both his personal and his country's interest, Ambassador Braithwaite stated: "The Arctic Council is of great importance to the US. We regard the Council as the conveyor of ideas, manager of ambitious projects, and enabler of sustainable development." 
 

Farewell to Patti Bruns


At the end of the month, the Arctic Council family will bid farewell to Patti Bruns. Patti has been the executive secretary for both the Arctic Contaminants Action Program and the Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group since February 2014. "Besides being a wonderful colleague Patti has absolutely been one of the major drivers behind EPPR and we can thank her for a lot of the successful work and the positive development of the working group”, says EPPR Chair Peter Holst-Andersen. We wish Patti the very best for her future endeavors.

Endurnýjanleg orka


During its Chairmanship, Iceland puts a special emphasis on green energy solutions. An important Icelandic term in this context is "endurnýjanleg orka", meaning renewable energy. 

Listen and learn to pronounce the term.
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