International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

1.3 Early Planning for IPY:
July 2003–December 2004
Lead Authors:
Igor Krupnik, Cynan Ellis-Evans and Chris Elfring
Contributing Authors:
Robin Bell, Robert Bindschadler, Chris Rapley and Eduard Sarukhanian
Reviewers:
Ian Allison, Leah Goldfarb and Ludger Müller-Wille
The ‘planning phase’ for IPY 2007–2008
began in earnest in July–August 2003, in the
midst of the boreal summer break and with
many Arctic scientists gone to their field
sites. That the IPY planners significantly advanced
the fledging concept during that time is a tribute to
their energy and dedication. Intense meetings and
assignments completed in the wee hours of the night
built momentum so that major events that required
extensive preparation could be scheduled in a matter
of weeks, not months. In 2003 and, again, in 2004, that
strategy and effort paid off.
PG-1 Meeting: July 2003
The first meeting of the IPY Planning Group (PG-1)
was held 31 July - 2 August, 2003 in Paris at the ICSU
headquarters (see http://classic.ipy.org/international/
documents/). The group was small (ten participants
only). 1 Nonetheless, the PG leaders, Chris Rapley and
Robin Bell decided that an actual meeting, even if
small, was sufficient to make an effective start to
the formal planning for IPY and would lend muchneeded
credibility. Holding the meeting at ICSU sent
a message that IPY was intended as an international,
science-focused effort. The convened members
believed it essential to move as quickly as possible to
demonstrate that a new planning body could provide
leadership and vision, and bring many nations and
participants together around the IPY idea (Box 1: PG
Terms of Reference).
The aims of the meeting were to develop a shared
vision of the goals of new IPY, develop selection
criteria by which projects could be judged to see
whether they were IPY relevant activities, identify
and begin taking steps to ensure coordination with
other relevant bodies and activities, and take steps to
encourage nations to organize some group or point
PA R T O N E : PL A N N I N G A N D I M PLEMEN T I N G I PY 20 07–20 0 8
of contact to facilitate IPY planning at the national
level. The PG team worked to articulate clear answers
to some fundamental questions about the nature of
IPY 2007–2008 – Why polar? Why international? Why
a year? There was easy consensus, encouraged by
ICSU, on some of the key elements that would come
to define IPY: that it would involve both poles, that it
would be multi-disciplinary and that it would be truly
international.
From the outset, the planners were influenced
by many elements viewed as legacy of the previous
International Geophysical Year (IGY) 1957–1958
(Chapter 1.1). Three key themes were identified as a
starting point to gather community input: Exploring
new frontiers, Understanding change at the poles
and Decoding polar processes. Even at this first
meeting, the importance of education and outreach
in the new IPY was stressed by calling it a “remarkable
opportunity” to train the next generation of polar
scientists and engage the public in the excitement
of polar science. Plans were made to start on a draft
science plan to ICSU that would be needed before the
ICSU Executive Board meeting in February 2004.
The group noted that there were other incipient
efforts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of IGY,
each with a different emphasis. It deliberated on
the importance of coordinating with other bodies
and activities (e.g. UNESCO’s International Year of
Planet Earth). There was significant debate on how
to work with the WMO on its IPY initiative and how to
coordinate with the International Heliophysical Year
(IHY) if it turned into a separate activity. It was agreed
that this IPY should be open and inclusive (and the
phrase “let a thousand flowers bloom” was eagerly
invoked).
The Planning Group knew that for implementation
to happen, individual scientists, science societies and
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