Polar bears are threatened by global warming and long-range transported pollution. The aim of the BearHealth project is a circumpolar monitoring and assessment of various health parameters including temporal and spatial trends of transarctic organic contaminants. Furthermore, temporal and annual distribution of polar bears in relation to sea ice extension will be conducted. The work is facilitated via the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group and 30 years of scientific networking

Temporal and spatial distribution of mercury and methylmercury source types, transfer and impact in the North American arctic and sub-arctic food web using seabird eggs and feathers Mercury appears to be increasing in the environment, world-wide. Scientists from North America and Europe will use seabird eggs and feathers to track sources of mercury and assess regional differences in mercury in the western Arctic by applying highly sensitive, newly developed analytical techniques. Eggs and feathers archived from past collections will be used to study changes from the past.

The Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP) is a global network working together to harmonize and integrate efforts to monitor the Arctic’s living resources.

We have an opportunity before us to vastly improve our understanding of change in the Arctic. While the North experiences growing pressure from climate change and resource development, our current monitoring is fragmented and uncoordinated, reducing our ability to understand what’s going on and therefore, effectively respond.

Arctic nations spend over half a billion dollars monitoring biodiversity – and yet, the return on our investment is poor. The CBMP is working with over 60 global partners to boost our current monitoring effort and deliver the most cutting edge information on Arctic change. Maintaining healthy Arctic ecosystems is a global imperative as the Arctic plays a critical role in the Earth’s physical, chemical and biological balance.

The extraordinarily rich and productive Southern Ocean has been commercially exploited for more than 200 years. As the region is increasingly affected by climate change, understanding the impact of these changes on marine ecosystems is vital if we are ensure that these waters are exploited sustainably. Drawing together fisheries scientists, oceanographers and acoustic engineers from 14 nations, this study will provide a detailed and integrated view of large marine ecosystems – the environment, food supply and main predators. It will deepen our understanding of the impact of human activity on Antarctic ecosystems, and help develop precise and effective management strategies.

"Moved by the state" is an international, collaborative research activity addressing state-induced population movements in the circumpolar North in the 20th and 21st centuries. To that end, institutions from Canada, Finland, Greenland, Russia, and the U.S.A. will conduct research in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia from 2006-2010. Extensive anthropological fieldwork and demographic data collection and analysis will be used to track similarities and differences among selected case studies.

ITASC is a decentralized network of individuals and organisations working collaboratively in the fields of art, engineering and science on the interdisciplinary development and deployment of renewable energy, waste recycling systems and sustainable architecture to enable the production and distribution of open-format, open-source remote field research in Antarctica and the Arctic. ITASC is a lichen-like structure sharing and integrating local knowledge, resources and skills across seven continents in order to symbiotically engage with the air, ocean, earth and space commons.

The “Inuit Voices” traveling exhibition relates the story of climate change through the eyes of the Inuit, Arctic peoples who are witnessing changes to the environment that has sustained them for a thousand years. The National Snow and Ice Data Center and the University of Colorado Museum, Boulder, collaborated on the development of “Inuit Voices,” which opened in April 2008.

There is now clear evidence that the effects of recent and past climate changes have varied in magnitude across of the world. Some changes over periods of thousands of years seem to have affected the Arctic and Antarctic regions alternately, and this has been called the “bipolar see-saw” effect. The BIPOMAC project will collect and examine climate records in sedimentary sequences spanning the past five million years from both polar regions. These records will provide a basis for analysing the complex interactions of environmental processes that have caused the observed patterns of climate variation. Improved understanding of such processes and their interactions will increase our ability to forecast future climate and sea level change.

“Environmental Monitoring: an Indigenous Perspective” is a four-day forum scheduled for 2007 (fall), in Ottawa. It will provide an opportunity for Inuit and other Indigenous Peoples to voice their issues and concerns on the monitoring of their environment. The forum will demonstrate how the capacity, knowledge and viewpoints of Indigenous Peoples can guide environmental monitoring and decision-making processes in the Arctic.