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Sunday 05.02.2012

Greenland, Russia prepare for the future

In Greenland, climate change is the focus of a new research centre...in Russia, oil and gas development fuels the push for a new Arctic institute.

The new Greenlandic Centre for Climate Research will help both Greenlandic as well as Danish research, said officials this week, with the announcement that the centre will go ahead for 2009.



The Centre for Climate Research will be located in Nuuk as part of Greenland's Institute of Natural Resources and the University of Greenland.

A director will be hired, as well as a professor and a number of researchers connected to Greenlandic, Danish or foreign institutions.

The centre will document climate changes and evaluate what impact these have on Arctic society and the environment.

"I'm quite pleased that we've agreed to create a climate centre in Greenland where climate change is literally going on outside the front door. The prerequisite for meeting these changes is of course that research will be improved," said Denmark's science minister, Helge Sander. "At the same time, the centre will be a strong platform ahead of the UN's climate summit which will be held next year in Copenhagen. That will help to give Denmark a central position compared to other countries which lead in this field."

Greenland's minister of research, Tommy Marø, said the research results would be of interest for Arctic communities as well as the world as a whole.

The ministers want to have all the financing and planning in place by the end of this year, so the centre can already be in use by 2009, reports Sermitsiaq.

This is not the only move towards dealing with new developments in the circumpolar region.

Universities from Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, St. Petersburg and Moscow want to join up with teaching institutions from Norway, France and the United States in a new Institute of Arctic Technologies, reports the Barents Observer.

The need for qualified workers to develep Arctic offshore hydrocarbon fields like the Shtokman field is behind the cooperation, and partners in the Shtokman Development Company, have encouraged universities from Russia, Norway, France and the U.S. to work together.

These include universities from Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Trondheim, Stavanger, Oslo, Spitsbergen, Paris, Nantes and Anchorage, the Murmansk edition of newspaper Argumenty i Fakty reports.

In Murmansk, the Murmansk State Technical University has trained about 150 oil and gas specialists during the past 10 years.

However, the need for more experts is critical, pro-rector of the Russian State University of Oil and Gas, Mr. Anatoli Zolotukhin said.

He said the new institute will make it possible for Murmansk students to study in both Stavanger and Anchorage as part of their degrees.