Earlier this year SCAR secured accreditation for the UN Ocean Conference which took place in Nice from June 9th to 13th. This allowed SCAR to participate in a number of events with partners and external organisations, sharing Antarctic and Southern Ocean perspectives and experiences.
On June 8th SCAR Executive Officer, Dr Eoghan Griffin, was a panellist at the launch of the Polar Donors Roundtable by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation (FPA2), and which included a keynote address from the Prince. In the context of the role for philanthropy and private funding, the importance of international and interdisciplinary research to address global issues was emphasised along with the opportunities for trans-disciplinary approaches through for example the partnership with the International Science Council in the next International Polar Year.
On June 11th the FPA2 convened a session on the Polar Initiative in which both SCAR and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) are partners. Dr Mike Meredith of the British Antarctic Survey sent a video message from Antarctica and Dr Sian Henley, of University of Edinburgh and co-chair of the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), spoke of the impact of funding for the Southern Ocean Observing System through the Initiative.
On June 12th the UN Decade for Ocean Science held an event to bring together representatives of the Decade Coordination Centers within the Decade, and Dr Sian Henley and Dr Alyce Hancock of SOOS represented the Decade Coordination Center for the Southern Ocean Region (DCC-SOR). The event included discussion of the broad range of capacity across the DCC/DCOs which opens up opportunities to collaborate to enhance existing work across a wide range of activities from funding approaches to education and outreach.
On June 8th Polar Educators International (