Meeting Announcement
Alaska Forum on the Environment
6-10 February 2006
Early Registration Deadline: Friday, 13 January 2006
For further information, please go to:
http://www.akforum.com
The Alaska Forum on the Environment (AFE) will be held in Anchorage,
Alaska on 6-10 February 2006.
The Forum is an annual event that brings together scientists, tribal
leaders, government representatives, community members, Native and
environmental organizations, industry, and other sectors to focus on
important and timely environmental issues. Speakers and attendees share
the latest research and information on subjects such as solid waste,
drinking water, oil and gas, alternative energy, environmental justice,
contaminants, subsistence/traditional food safety, rural sanitation,
etc. Plenary speakers deliver motivating and thought-provoking
presentations on a variety of topics, usually from diverse vantage
points. The number of participants at AFE 2005 exceeded 1,300; many of
whom travel from rural communities throughout the state.
Early registration is open until Friday, 13 January 2006. Further
information is available online:
http://www.akforum.com
*** Please note that the 2006 agenda is still under construction.
Introducing a New Track on Climate Change:
Some of the impacts related to the warming of the Arctic which are
already affecting Alaskans include thawing permafrost, increased
temperatures, decreased extent and thinning of the Arctic Ocean ice,
unpredictable weather patterns, and coastal erosion. These have resulted
in damage to structures and infrastructure (buildings, roadways,
pipelines), infestations from pests such as the spruce bark beetle (over
3 million acres have been affected - see facts at
http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/forestry/insects/sprucebarkbettle.htm) and
Vibrio parahaemolyticus in oysters, increased dry lightning strikes
leading to increased forest fire activity (approximately 6.7 million
acres burned in 2004 putting significant drain on national fire fighting
resources), changes to migration patterns of terrestrial and marine
species resulting in changes to traditional diets and in some cases
putting subsistence hunters in grave danger, proposal of new shipping
routes in the Arctic Ocean, and a multitude of attendant present and
future problems.