Arctic Frontiers a useful resource for the working groups 29 January 2012Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and ResponseSustainable Development Working Group The sixth annual Arctic Frontiers conference was held January 22-27 in Tromsø, Norway. This year's theme was Energies of the High North and the title of the conference was Polar Might. The conference was held at the University of Tromsø. The conference began on Monday and Tuesday with policy seminars and continued from Wednesday to Friday with seminars on scientific topics. The conference was attended by a wide audience which included politicians, companies, researchers, organizations, institutions and students. Outside the conference venue there were also booths which provided further information on important actors in the Arctic, current research and life in the High North. Ole Kristian Bjerkemo, chair of the Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR) working group visited Arctic Frontiers in the beginning of the week. "Arctic Frontiers is an important arena for networking and for receiving facts about developments in the Arctic. I especially appreciated the workshop on oil and ice which was organized in connection to the conference. There was considerable professional input which will be useful for EPPR's work" says Mr. Bjerkemo. The Chair of the Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) Mikael Anzén also attended the policy section of the conference. "Arctic Frontiers proved to be an interesting meeting point for people interested in Arctic issues. Participants included academia, governments, indigenous peoples, NGO's and industry. Relatively short and quick presentations with different points of view followed by Q&A's made the two days of the political section very dynamic" says Mr. Anzén.