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SCIENTISTS from the eight nations bordering the Arctic Ocean have formed
the International Arctic Science Committee, an organisation which will coordinate
scientific research in the far north, and represent the interests of arctic
researchers. It will focus especially on research linked to changes in the
climate, though it will also support social science and economic studies
in the region (This Week, 16 September 1989).

Academies from Canada, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the
US and the Soviet Union officially formed IASC at the end of August. All
the countries represented have territory inside the Arctic Circle. Non-arctic
countries which back ‘significant arctic research’ will be allowed to join
IASC when it holds its first meeting this winter. Britain, France, Japan,
West Germany and Poland attended the founding meeting of IASC in the small
Canadian community of Resolute as observers.

Arctic countries will form a ‘regional board’ within the committee to
discuss research matters of a purely regional interest, and also to ‘form
a liaison between the scientific world and political interests in the Arctic’
says Anders Karlqvist, who represented the Swedish Academy of Sciences at
Resolute. The United States National Academy of Sciences described IASC
as ‘the first multilateral agreement on arctic science to garner the support
of both the political and scientific communities’.

Karlqvist says that the committee will not limit itself to natural sciences,
but that it is ‘specifically designed to include social sciences and the
humanities,’ including studies of regional policy, and the situation of
native arctic peoples.

Plans for an association similar to the Scientific Committee for Antarctic
Research date back to 1988. Å®ÉúСÊÓƵs have proceeded alongside a separate
initiative, launched by Finland, to establish an intergovernmental treaty
among the arctic countries aimed primarily at protecting the environment
(This Week, 25 February 1989). Ministers from arctic countries are expected
to meet next year to sign such a treaty.

The IASC could provide scientific support for the treaty organisation,
said Karlqvist. Its small secretariat will be based at the Norwegian Polar
Institute, headed by its director, Odd Rogne.

‘The main problem for arctic scientists was always the Iron Curtain,’
says Karlqvist. ‘Now that the ice has broken’, he says, ‘the Soviets are
very eager to be involved in scientific cooperation.’ The Soviet Union has
more research stations in the Arctic than we know about, says Karlqvist.
The same applies to Canada, he added.

Fred Roots, a Canadian scientist who chaired the meeting of arctic countries
at Resolute, said that Canada welcomed more international science on its
territory. Among the research areas that were singled out by the US Academy
were: arctic haze, which is a result of southern air pollution; early indications
of global climate change; and the resulting thawing of ice and permafrost.