European Polar Board Calls for United Approach to Polar Science
08.12.2010 - Logistics, Bi-polar
In its strategic position paper on European polar research: “Relevance, Strategic Context and Setting Future Directions”, the European Polar Board called for Polar research to become an integral part of the European Union’s research plan. Thus far, European research activities in the Polar Regions have been significant, with over 300 million euro per year going towards scientific research at the poles. However, as the paper shows, the research is often fragmented and there is a lack of coordination between participating European nations, which makes for considerable overlap.
In order to solve these issues, the paper calls for making polar research a priority within the upcoming 8th Research Framework Programme (FP8) from the European Commission and polar funding agencies in the various EU member states. The paper also calls for more collaboration with international partners to preserve the Polar Regions so that research can help us gain better knowledge of the changes affecting the Earth’s dynamic systems.
As climate change opens up opportunities in fisheries, tourism, oil, gas and transport in the Polar Regions, the position paper underlines the need for an extra coordination effort in European research activities particularly in Antarctica, coordinating and sharing programmes, resources, scientific stations, and other facilities and infrastructure.
