International summit and working group conference on the development and deployment of energy resources in the Arctic including remote and rural villages Focusing on the Arctic as an emerging energy province, the Arctic Energy Summit is comprised of a web-based educational program, an international technology conference to be held in Anchorage, Alaska Oct. 14-18, 2007 and the creation of an arctic energy task force to develop a vision and programmatic way forward related to the development and deployment of Arctic energy.

Climate of the Arctic and its role for Europe/Arctic System Reanalysis The overall objective of IPY-CARE (International Polar Year - Climate of the Arctic and its Role for Europe) is to create, co-ordinate and prepare a Pan-European science and implementation plan for Arctic climate change and ecosystems research programme as contribution to the International Polar Year.

The Bering Sea is one of the world’s most productive marine environments. More than $1.5 billion worth of fish is caught there every year. The region is now undergoing alarming environmental changes, including climate change. The local indigenous peoples led by the Aleut International Association, have put together a monitoring project to assess the nature and extent of change. Rather than relying on high-tech remote sensing, the observations will mostly be done by indigenous peoples themselves, their intimate knowledge of their local areas providing them with a finely tuned ability to detect changes, however subtle. Observations will include the shift of southern species north, changes in distribution and abundance of fish and other temperature-sensitive species, changes in ice patterns, and weather observations.

The International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere Program is coordinating intensive measurements of the Arctic Atmosphere in Canada, Russia, Norway, Finland, Sweden and the U.S. The focus of the program is to combine information so that it can be determined WHY and not just HOW the atmosphere is affecting Arctic climate change). The activities and partnerships initiated during the IPY are expected to continue for decades.

The University of the Arctic (UArctic) will provide and coordinate IPY higher education and outreach activities and services. The UArctic IPY office is located at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Our aim is to provide opportunities for Arctic indigenous people and northern residents to be active IPY participants through UArctic education programs and IPY research projects. During IPY, UArctic’s objective is to increase the participation of indigenous people and northern residents of all ages in education and research, with the ultimate, longer-term goal of increasing their representation in the ranks of scholars who have attained the Ph.D.

"What does it mean for an bird to be sick? How does this affect not only survival but also reproduction. In short, the aim of the project is: The role of parasites and pathogens in determining the size and distribution of arctic and antarctic bird populations. 1. Study geographic variation in infections, parasite loads, viral prevalence, immune system functioning 2. Study the effects of infections, parasites, viruses and immune response on fitness parameters and energetics of individually marked birds 3. Link the observed trends to pathogen-host (or parasite-host) interaction, dynamics of the pool of pathogens and pollution levels. 4. Modelling future scenario’s of geographic variation and relating the findings to climate change, nature management and human health."

Human Health in Arctic Regions The AHHI is an Arctic Council IPY (2007-2008) project that will focus on the health disparities that still exist among residents of Arctic communities when compared to communities in more temporate regions, and the human health challenges that are posed by climate change, environmental pollution, and sustainable development in Arctic regions. Research will be conducted in the US Arctic (Alaska), northern Canada, Greenland/Denmark, Iceland, Norway Finland, Sweden and northern Regions of the Russian Federation.

Narwhal Tusk Research combines the talents of fifty-one scientists around the world with the Traditional Knowledge of forty three Inuit hunters to discover the unique characteristics of nature’s most extraordinary expression of teeth. Initiated five years ago the ongoing expeditions and scientific analyses continue to discover new findings of a tooth that have unlocked clues from evolution to global warming.

Comparative Studies of Marine Arctic and Antarctic Ecosystems and the Potential Consequences of Climate Change The polar ecosystems are of key importance for the earth's climate and biosphere. ICES will coordinate a symposium to present major results and conclusions of the IPY entitled “Comparative Studies of Marine Arctic and Antarctic Ecosystems and the Potential Consequences of Climate Change”. The congress will be held in 2010 in an ICES member state or affiliate country.

Three terrestrial components of the cryosphere: snow cover, permafrost, and small glaciers will be studied as well as their interactions with society and potential feedbacks to the Global Earth System. Within each area of research the foci of studies will be on the models’ development and creation of conditions for seamless their implementation to improve understanding and projections of environmental change and to serve numerous practical applications.