ISAAFIK means ‘the large gate’ in Greenlandic. Now it is also the name of a new web portal to assist all planning an expedition to the Arctic, and which will also serve as a forum for exchange of ideas and contributions to teaching, research and education.

The development of the website has taken place across Danish, Greenlandic and Faroese universities and research institutions as well as the Danish defence.

"The Arctic environment is changing markedly in these years, and there is a need for conducting significantly more research into how best to handle these changes. With the new website we can easily share our knowledge and strengthen our cooperation across the Danish realm, so we can engage in the fight against climate change together," says Education and Research Minister Sofie Carsten Nielsen.

The whole world is watching the Arctic at the moment. Changes in climate will create new opportunities and new challenges for an ecosystem that has enormous resources and provides the livelihood for the Arctic population.

Oil, minerals and possible new shipping routes contribute to the political awareness of the Arctic, but it is expensive and cumbersome to operate in an area where there is only a limited infrastructure. The web portal therefore covers an urgent need for coordination and facilitation of Arctic activities in relation to the optimum use of, for example, transportation, field stations and equipment.

"ISAAFFIK gives the individual researcher an overview of the activities in progress and can assist in the planning of activities. We may be a small nation, but the Danish realm is a major power in Arctic research, and we must be able to act at the forefront of the Arctic scene," says vice-dean Kurt Nielsen, Aarhus University, who has been chairman of the working group of researchers, coordinators and consultants who developed the portal across universities, government and research institutions.

See the new Arctic web portal at: www.isaaffik.org

Additional information:
Coordinator of ISAAFFIK Peter Schmidt Mikkelsen, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and Aarhus University, pemi@natur.gl , tel.: +45 3071 3950

Vice-dean at Aarhus University Kurt Nielsen, kni@au.dk, tel : +45 4084 1780