Conference Announcement
World Environment Day 2007
Melting Ice - A Hot Topic?
4-5 June 2007
Tromso, Norway
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, 15 May 2007
For further information (in Norwegian and English), please go to:
http://www.wed.npolar.no/
World Environment Day 2007 will be held in Tromso, Norway on 4-5 June
2007, with the conference, "Melting Ice - A Hot Topic?" Hosted by the
Norwegian Polar Institute and the Ministry of the Environment, the
conference is planned as a meeting between decision makers and
scientists and will also address the media and the general public.
The focus of the conference and World Environment Day is the topic of
decreasing ice and snow cover around the world. The arctic mean
temperature has risen at almost twice the rate as the rest of the world,
diminishing sea ice and thawing permafrost. But the changes are not
limited to the polar regions. All areas covered by ice and snow, such as
the Himalaya and Andes mountains, are influenced by climate change.
Rivers once fed by mountain glaciers could eventually run dry or change
their courses, harming agriculture, human health, and biodiversity.
Declining sea ice has an immediate impact on animals and people in the
Arctic and a longer term effect on the rest of the world by affecting
ocean circulation and the global climate. As glaciers melt and oceans
warm, sea levels will rise. This will strongly impact inhabitants of
low-lying islands and delta areas, where some of the world's poorest
people live.
"Melting Ice - A Hot Topic?" will be held in English and is open to
everyone. The conference will:
- give an overview of global climate change, include a presentation by
the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on
new findings and recommendations;
- focus on consequences for indigenous people, effects of climate
changes in different geographic regions presented by scientific models,
and expected rise in sea level because of melting glaciers; and
- look ahead at expected results and new knowledge from International
Polar Year projects, in which participants from nearly 70 countries are
taking part.
The conference will also include a roundtable discussion to mark the
20th anniversary of "Our Common Future," a report by the World
Commission on Environment and Development, led by former Norwegian Prime
Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The roundtable aims to encourage a
global outlook on a future-orientated agenda and create an arena for
analysis and new visions. Brundtland will provide the keynote address
before the discussion.
Registration for the full or partial program is available at:
http://www.wed.npolar.no/