March 19, 2004
Without action, Arctic faces change
SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE
The Arctic environment and its inhabitants are at risk and may be subject to
severe change unless decision-makers act to curb climate change, contaminants,
and other forms of pollution, warns a report, Arctic Environment: European perspectives,
published jointly this week by the United Nations Environment Programme and
the European Environment Agency.
"Governments, regulators, indigenous peoples and the private sector need
to work together to manage the Arctic's natural resources and use them responsibly
and equitably," said the director of the EEA, Jacqueline McGlade.
The report's action plan includes a focus on sustainable development.
"The contributions that the indigenous peoples living in the High North
and the Arctic can make to this process, and the role they plan in the stewardship
of the region, are of key importance for the implementation of the new plan,"
says the report's introduction.
The release of the report prompted environmentalists to urge the European Union
to lobby Russia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions and
exploit its oil and gas in a sustainable manner. They also called for more EU
money for Arctic research.
March 19, 2004
Nordic teachers criticize Greenland government
Although Greenland's home rule government and Greenland's association for teachers
are working on a plan to help children who don't get enough nurturing from their
parents, the Nordic teachers' organisation is still unhappy about the situation
The Nordic Forum for educators has about 60,000 members in Scandinavia.
Mogens Seider, a Danish official with the NFF, said there are children and
youth in Greenland who are in need of care as well as about 150 children waiting
to be placed in foster families or at other institutions.
Greenland's teacher association is now threatening to take legal action against
the Greenland home rule government for its neglect of international agreements
on child welfare.
Asii Chemniz Narup, the minister for family and health in Greenland, told Greenland's
radio news this week that the home rule government would be happy to discuss
the matter with the teachers' association, but wouldn't respond to threats.
March
12, 2004
ICC chair testifies
in Washington
SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE
Sheila Watt-Cloutier, chair
of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, provided written testimony last week to
the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the
threat posed by climate change to Inuit.
Her testimony was referred
to repeatedly during the proceedings when the committee heard a briefing on
the Arctic Council's Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a study of climate in
the circumpolar region to be tabled in at the council's meeting next November.
"Inuit are facing
the beginning of a possible end of a way of life that has allowed us to thrive
for millennia because of the climate changes caused by global warming. It is
predicted that is some 50 years polar bears, walrus and some species of seals
will be pushed to extinction. What will be left of our culture is this comes
to pass?"
Watt-Cloutier urged the
U.S. to take moves to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, believed to be linked
to global warming.
"Without such immediate
action, not only are Inuit in peril, but the entire planet is at risk,"
Watt-Cloutier said.
March 12, 2004
Kayaker lost en route
to North Pole
Dominick Arduin, 44, a French-born Finnish citizen who set out to reach the
North Pole on her own, has not been heard from since last week. This was her
second attempt to reach the pole.
Arduin was due to cross a 55-km stretch of open water by kayak on Friday. She
set out on her expedition from Siberia, and planned to paddle her way to a region
with a strong ice-cover.
Arduin had a small kayak, skis, and a 75-kilogram sled.
She planned to reach the geographical North Pole by skiing and by kayak, hoping
to become the first woman in the world to accomplish the feat alone. She contacted
her back-up group on Friday and promised to turn on her positioning beacon,
but a signal providing her coordinates was never received.
Arduin was also supposed to contact her web site and the Finnish Broadcasting
Company on a daily basis, but failed to do so.
March 12, 2004
Stranded Russians
make it home
A major Arctic rescue effort
succeeded last weekend when a helicopter plucked 12 Russian scientists off drifting
ice not far from the North Pole.
Their base camp had disappeared
into the sea when the ice they were on started breaking up after it was crushed
by a huge wall of ice - "like a meat grinder" - according to one of
the survivors.
The camp, called North
Pole-32 or Sverny Polyus-32, marked Russia's return to polar research after
a break of 12 years.
The ice floe was located
around 700 kilometres northwest of Norwegian-controlled Svalbard Islands.
The rescue operation was
tricky because the ice floe kept drifting, making it difficult to pinpoint the
exact location of the Russians.
The Russians had been at
the base camp since last April to study climate changes and take mineral samples.
The base already had drifted
2,750 kilometers with the ice in a clockwise direction around the North Pole.
March 12, 2004
Alaska Natives plan
international summit
Alaska native leaders are
planning an international summit this summer to exchange information about developing
the economies of rural and indigenous communities.
The Alaska Federation of
Natives said the event will take place this summer in South-Central Alaska.
The date and location are still being worked out.
March 5, 2004
Court rules against aboriginal gun fees
An Ontario court ruled this week that the federal gun registry which requires
aboriginal people to pay fees to possess firearms is unconstitutional and unenforceable.
In acquitting Whitesand First Nation members Mark and Leon Nayanookeesic of
all charges against them, the court awarded costs against the Crown for its
involvement in breaching a right protected under section 35 of the constitution.
March 5, 2004
Finns host world's coolest water sport
About 300 racers, age 11 to 79, plunged into an ice pool last week in the northern
Finnish city of Muonio, part of the annual world icepool swimming championships.
Most competitors were Finnish, but four French tourists found their tour operator
had signed them up the day before the race.
"This is...the only sport in which I can represent Lebanon at the world
championship level," Ghadi Boustari told Reuters news service.
The 25-metre long icepool was cut into a frozen lake.
"The feeling is difficult to describe. It's something between drunkenness
and euphoria," said competitor Karl Farlin, 45, who was dressed in a fur
hat after finishing the race in 1 C water.
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