In Belgium for a State visit, H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco was the guest of the International Polar Foundation (IPF) for a private dinner, hosted by the Inbev-Baillet Latour Fund at the "Cercle de Lorraine" in Brussels.

For reminder, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation acts as an accelerator of projects and solutions for the environment. It encourages the implementation of innovative and ethical solutions in three main areas: climate change, biodiversity and water.

For the first time since its creation, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation granted its climate change prize last February 2008 to Alain Hubert, founding President of the IPF. But, at the time, Alain Hubert was in Antarctica with the responsibility of finishing the construction of the Princess Elisabeth research station.

Yesterday June 17, before a small committee of foreign ambassadors, friends, and IPF administrators, collaborating scientists and sponsors, H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco presented the trophy in person to Alain Hubert. In his speech, the Prince paid merit to Alain Hubert's clairvoyance and commitment towards climate-change related issues.

The 3^rd edition of the Energy & Environment Awards took place in Tour & Taxis, in Brussels on June 5th. Among its most faithful partners, the IPF was present to grant the Special International Polar Foundation 2008 Award.

Each year, the Belgian Energy & Environment Awards are allocated to candidates having played an active part, through creativity and achievement, in the field of sustainable development. The Special International Polar Foundation 2008 Award is granted to the candidate whose project has favourable implications in the fight against climate change.

This year, the IPF awarded Synergy International, an architectural office, for having built "the first Walloon passive office complex" with an energy consumption of just 15 kWh/m² per year. Commissioned by Group Investsud, the complex's conception was designed to reduce the total amount of greenhouse gases it would emit before and after it was built. Everything from the building materials to the building's actual operation was carefully studied in relation to the building's energy consumption and environmental impact. The company will be able to move in by the end of August 2008.

Thierry Touchais, IPF Executive Director was there to grant the award to Synergy International for its 'innovative and experimental project". He reminded everyone about the importance of reducing our carbon emissions, and drew an interesting metaphore between summer calorie diets and the pressing need for a "carbon diet".

Present at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Forum 2008, Alain Hubert, Founding President of the International Polar Foundation (IPF), opened a keynote session with a speech entitled "On Ice, Bears and Markets in the Silicon Age".

Before a large audience of government leaders, OECD experts andrepresentatives from companies, media and the civil society, AlainHubert's speech brought together polar science, global climate history,and the need for immediate action in "Meeting the Climate Challenge"(read his speech in attachment).

"As polar research has contributed to the understanding of past climates and our influence on them, it contributes to how we might predict future climates."

The OECD Forum provides an enhanced dialogue on global economic issuesin view of establishing common grounds for co-operation among allstakeholders. At the centre of crucial discussions, the OECD Forumserves as a platform for discussion on the most pressing policychallenges of our time.

On Tuesday May 27th, an academic ceremony was held at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, to officially pay homage to Prof. André Berger, a pioneering climatologist and co-founder of the International Polar Foundation.

Before a public of over 180 people, Prof. André Berger was officially granted the status of Professor Emeritus. This event brought together leading scientists and directors of institutes from all over the world (Ireland, China, Germany, Russia, switzerland, Japan, USA, France, UK, Canada, Norway and the Netherlands), notably 1995 Nobel Prize winner and Member of Honour of the International Polar Foundation Paul Krutzen, and representatives from the Laboratory of Glaciology and Geophysical Environment (LGGE), the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute (IPSL), the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI).

An international symposium on climate change is also organised in the honour of Prof. Berger, from May 26 to 29, entitled "Climate Change: From the Geologic Past to the Uncertain Future". The objective of this symposium is for cientists to go over the results of studies undertaken in the field of climate change and to discuss the uncertainties linked to the future.

A call for proposals has been launched for the first Antarctica InBev-Baillet Latour Fellowship (ABLEF) Award. The laureate of this award will be allocated a research fund enabling him to carry out his study proposal in, or in the vicinity of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctic research station.

Managed by a Joint Award Committee, consisting of members of the InBev-Baillet Latour Fund, the International Polar Foundation and the Belgian Federal Science Policy (Belspo), the award is addressed to doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, regardless of nationality, registered at a Belgian University or a Federal research institute.

The InBev-Baillet Latour Fund was constituted by the Comte de Baillet Latour and the Artois Breweries in Belgium "to encourage and award services of outstanding human value in the Arts and Sciences by means of Prizes, study and travel grants, donations in cash or kind, or by any other means that the Fund might deem appropriate. The Fund shall be a non-profit making organisation, and shall have no political, trade-union or philosophical affiliations".

In bringing together the aims of both the InBev-Baillet Latour Fund and the IPF, this award aims to promote scientific excellence and activity in the Antarctic, and to encourage research initiatives around the new Princess Elisabeth Antarctic research station. The International Polar Foundation is also working with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) to promote scientific research in the Antarctic during the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008.

Proposals outlining research objectives and logistics must reach Belspo by 27 June 2008 in order to be taken into consideration. Please read the attached document for practical information.

On May 19th, polar explorer Alain Hubert, founder of the International Polar Foundation, visited the European Space Agency (ESA) to hand over a unique set of snow-depth measurements which had been collected during his 2007 Arctic crossing. This dataset makes a valuable contribution to the validation programme of ESA's ice mission CryoSat.

As a reminder, ESA was a technical partner of the "Arctic Arc" expedition which saw Alain and fellow explorer Dixie Dansercoer cross the Arctic, from Russia to Greenland on foot via the North Pole. The two explorers crossed 1654 km in 106 days and, despite the terrible weather and ice conditions, they collected snow thickness measurements for ESA at regular intervals every 50 km throughout their expedition.

The Earth Explorer CryoSat mission is due for launch next year. It is designed to measure tiny variations in the thickness of floating sea-ice and ice on land. Understand the effects that the overlying snow can have on the measurement of ice elevation is therefore of huge importance. Measurements collected on the ice and from the air are crucial to fully understand and characterise the geophysical uncertainties in the CryoSat products.

"It wasn't really difficult to take these measurements for CryoSat," said Alain, "It became part of our routine. The difficult part of the expedition was putting one foot in front of the other when the ice is breaking up around you. As co-founder of the International Polar Foundation, and as a scientist as well as a seasoned explorer - I aim to form a kind of 'bridge' between science and society. Observing the changes that are occurring in the fragile Arctic environment will help lead to a better understanding of the effects of climate change and ultimately the Earth system as a whole. CryoSat is an exciting mission that will help answer questions about the polar ice, so we were very happy to contribute through our Arctic Arc expedition."

Malcolm Davidson ESA's CryoSat Validation Manager noted that "ESA has now released the snow-depth data collected by the Expedition to the CryoSat Validation and Retrieval Team. The team has been quite eager to get the data and start the analysis. Ultimately we expect that - in conjunction with the core ESA-sponsored airborne campaigns and similar initiatives from other polar expeditions -  the data will help us better measure ice thickness changes from space with CryoSat-2".

Below, you will find some web links which provide you with more context on the expedition.

• IPF website
• ESA website
• BBC website

For the first time since its creation, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation delivered its "climate change" award to Alain Hubert, founding president of the International Polar Foundation (IPF), for his clairvoyance and commitment towards climate change-related issues.

Currently in Antarctica with the responsibility to finish the construction of a new polar research station, "Princess Elisbabeth", Alain was unable to attend the official ceremony in person. He did, however, manage to contact Prince Albert II of Monaco through his satellite Iridium phone in order to express his gratitude.

Alain Hubert: "[I am] very honoured by the decision of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. Through the International Polar Foundation, I have sought to encourage individuals and companies to do their part in responding to the challenge of climate change. The IPF has reached its current position after only five years in existence thanks to all of the people who believe in our actions and support us, and who are aware that fighting for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions is a matter of common economic and social interest."

Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation strives to act as an accelerator of projects and solutions for the environment. It encourages the implementation of innovative and ethical solutions in three main areas: climate change, biodiversity and water.

We just lived a historical moment here in Brussels, as we received a phone call from Utsteinen base camp. Alain Hubert phoned to say that the last exterior module was mounted on the Station this afternoon.

For those who were there, imagine the Station as it sat in Tour & Taxis last September, only surrounded by the white stretches of Antarctica. By now, the team has also added the front door to the tower and was quite proud to be able to use it for the first time.

As you can guess, spirits are high as ever as huge progress is made each day. Alain also mentioned that they were planning on closing the roof of the Station by tomorrow, Wednesday Feb. 13, at the end of the day. He told us once again how pleased he was with the team's determination and dedication to the project, and wishes to thank you all for following this adventure.

Schoolchildren from the Hoogstraten primary school, located near Antwerp, designed and sewed a flag especially dedicated to the new Belgian Station in Antarctica.

Having studied the various aspects associated with the project, the fifth and sixth graders decided they would make a contribution to the Station. The flag they designed and sewed will be implanted in Utsteinen, Antarctica, as soon as the next team members reach the 6th continent.

The Utsteinen workaholics have now completed mounting the exterior modules on the Station's East side.

The East façade is the side from which the wind comes in. It was the first to be finished in order to shield the station. Although it has calmed down over the past few days, the wind is still cold and numbing when it hits your bare skin.

Thank goodness the sun is high, lifting the spirits and morale of the Utsteinen team.

Weather Information from Utsteinen

Date 30.01.2008
Time 07 35 UTC (Universal Time Coordinated)

• Wind Direction: 90 deg
• Wind Speed: 20 km/h - 40 km/h
• Visibility: 10 + km
• Temperature: -11.1°C
• Pressure (QNH): 823 hPa