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can find them on Poles announced that they working very hard to help us
<www.ipy.org>. After careful would pay for their participa- organize IPY activities in their
evaluation of these full pro- tion in IPY projects.We do not countries, and we hope that all
posals against IPY criteria the have an exact figure from all the projects will be imple-
Joint Comn'iittee endorsed participating countries, and mented. Nevertheless, it
the
that's the reason why I cannot already gives scientists a lot
of expressing
r 172 scientific projects, one give you a full pichire about possibility ideas that
of
interesting
As
for all the projects.
for data management
finding
project
activities, and 52 projects for I told you, we have a total of should be very beneficial for
out-reach and education, mak- 225 projects, but how many of future generations.
ing a total of 225. The latter them will actually be realized
are taking place in schools, depends on funding. We shall Q: Why are you so interest-
musetnns and exhibitions. have a clearer picture by the ed in the Polar Regions?
Many of these activities are end of this yem.
closely linked to the indige- I am a Polar man! I spent one
nous peoples, because they In fact, the IPY will last more year at North Pole Station
would like to demonstrate than one year-it starts in number I9 in 1970 and I went
how they live and work with March 2007 and goes on to three times to the Antarctic. I
scientists to big the'+r tradi- March 2009. We are ti'ying to am familiar with these places.
tional la'iowledge and experi- cover all seasons - and we
ence. don't have the same seasons I studied at the Marine
in the Arctic and the Antarctic Academy and graduated as an
Q: How do you obtain the simultaneously. It is, of oceanographer. Then I worked
money? course, an international cam- in the Arctic and Antarctic
paign-people are going on Research Institute in Saint
As you correctly surmise, we expeditions, making observa- Petersburg for twenty years.
depend upon money. Indeed, tions at the stations, research In the 1980s we cai'ried out
we have had some good news! in laboratories. Our privilege - so-called Polar experiments,
Canada, for instance, - and maybe our most difficult but at that time this did not
announced that it would pro- task-is to organize all this. involve such a wide interna-
vide 150 million Canadian In thirty two countries we tional participation. Now we
dollars to IPY projects; already have national IPY are expecting altogether
Norway, United Kingdom, committees, as in Norway for 50,000 participants in the IPY.
Netherlands and other coun- instance which kindly host
tries provided substantial con- our session in Svalbard in Q: What is the benefit for
tributions for IPY. Even coun- September this year. ordinary people like me?
tries that are far away from the These national coinmittees are

o

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