International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

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Box 4
IPY 20 07–20 08
Resolution 2 (2003)
SUPPORT OF ATCM FOR THE
INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR 2007/08
The representatives,
Aware that the polar regions are key components of the Earth
System;
Considering the important role of the Polar Regions both in
driving and responding to Global Climate Change;
Recognizing the opportunities afforded by new technological
and logistical developments for polar research in the 21st
century to develop an understanding of key global phenomena
at the frontiers of discovery;
Acknowledging the important contribution to scientific
knowledge resulting from international cooperation in
scientific investigations in the Polar Regions;
Noting the opportunity offered by the 125th anniversary of the
first International Polar Year (IPY), the 75th anniversary of
the second IPY, and the 50th anniversary of the International
Geophysical Year (IGY), to galvanize an intensive program of
internationally coordinated research in the Polar Regions;
Noting the active commitment to an International Polar
Year of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and
the interest of other international bodies responsible for the
coordination of research in the Arctic.
Noting the establishment by the International Council
for Science (ICSU) of an overarching Planning Group to
coordinate the planning for and the establishment of the IPY
(2007/08) that will encompass a wide range of science issues
of global interest;
Recommend that the parties:
- call upon SCAR and COMNAP to work with the
International Council for Science (ICSU) to pursue
actively the planning and implementation by all
interested organizations of an International Polar Year
(2007/09) to address priority polar science issues of
global relevance;
- within the context of their national Antarctic research
programs and capabilities to support science programs
proposed for the IPY (2007/08) to achieve outcomes
which would not otherwise be possible if undertaken
by national programs along;
- make the support of the IPY (2007/08) a priority within
their national research activities.
polar programs and initiatives, all with budgets
and dedicated cadres of their own. Outside
Russia, there was little governmental support
of IPY across the national science agencies and
offices. That came as little surprise. An outcome
of a genuinely bottom-up process, the new IPY
steered away from military, economic or strategic
issues related to global politics, polar regions and
outer space competition that were so dominant in
IGY 1957–1958. It also envisioned a certain level of
inclusion of biological and social sciences, in both
ICSU and WMO proposals, and it appealed to the
socio-economic issues relevant to polar residents,
something that never occurred in the earlier IPYs.
As a societal phenomenon, IPY 2007–2008 was
indeed a product of the post-Cold War era and of
modern science. 19
Acknowledgement
This overview is based upon the collection of
the early IPY 2007–2008 documentation stored
at the IPO (Chris Rapley personal files), PRB,
also accumulated by Amanda Graham and Igor
Krupnik, and on the interviews with Chris Rapley (3
March, 2008), Peter Clarkson (6 March, 2007), Chris
Elfring (11 April, 2008), Robert Bindschadler (19
May, 2008), Leonard Johnson (7 June, 2008), Jörn
Thiede (23 September, 2008), Helena Ödmark (25
February, 2009), Eduard Sarukhanian (25 February,
2009) and Vladimir Kotlyakov (18 December, 2009)
recorded by Igor Krupnik. Several early documents
related to the IPY planning process were posted
on the IPY interim website at http://classic.ipy.
org/index.php, on the U.S. National Committee
for International Polar Year at www.us-ipy.org/
downloads.shtml or may be searched online. We
are grateful to many colleagues who generously
shared their memories of the early phases of IPY
and to Aant Elzinga for his helpful comments. This
narrative on the origin of IPY 2007–2008 remains a
work in progress, with several gaps yet to be filled
through future research.