The Arctic Council at IPY From Knowledge to Action 20 April 2012Inuit Circumpolar CouncilArctic Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeConservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna The final International Polar Year (IPY) conference will be held in Montréal, Canada April 22-27. Over 2,500 participants are expected. Attendees include Arctic and Antarctic researchers, academics, policy-makers, industry representatives, non-governmental organizations and inhabitants of circumpolar communities. The Arctic Council will be represented at the conference in a variety of ways. Prominent members of the Arctic Council will speak during the conference and a wide variety of Arctic Council side-events and activities will also take place. Several Arctic Council meetings will also be held in Montréal parallel to the conference. Arctic Council booth The Arctic Council will have a booth in the exhibition area where the Swedish Chairmanship, Permanent Participants, and Working Groups will be represented. The booth will be located in booth area 401, to the left of the exhibition entrance. Stop by the booth from Monday April 23 until Thursday April 26 for Arctic Council information and activities. Mr. Gustaf Lind, SAO Chair, will visit the booth on Monday April 23 and Tuesday April 24. In addition the Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC), Gwich'in Council International (GGI), and Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) will also have booths at the conference. Arctic Council presentations During the conference several presentations will be held by Arctic Council members. On Tuesday morning the Plenary Keynote will be presented by Mr. Aqqaluk Lynge, Chair of the ICC. At 3:30pm on Tuesday Gustaf Lind and Mr. Duane Smith, President of the ICC of Canada, will participate in the Plenary Panel on Adaptation to Change. On Wednesday at 3:30pm Dr. Mike Gill, Chair of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Project (CBMP), will participate in the Plenary Panel on Ecosystems: Science and Stewardship Services. Arctic Council actors will also make presentations during several of the parallel sessions and action forums. Many of the Permanent Participant organizations will also take part in the Indigenous Knowledge Exchange (IKE), a 9 part talk series which focuses on issues of interest for the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Gunn-Britt Retter from the Saami Council, Bridget Larocque from GCI, Erik Gant from the Indigenous Peoples Secretariat (IPS), and Stephanie Meakin from ICC will act as conveners for IKE sessions throughout the week. Meetings during IPY A variety of working group meetings will also take place in Montréal before, during, and following the IPY conference. The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group will host multiple meetings, for example an Arctic Biodiversity Assessment Authors Meeting on Saturday April 21 and Sunday April 22. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) will also host a meeting for the Human Health Expert Group on Thursday April 26 and Friday April 27. These meetings are closed meetings and participation is open only to group members.