IPY-5: A crucial new phase in organising regular IPYs
The 5th IPY (2032-33) will build on four groundbreaking IPYs convened between 1881 and 2009 (IPY-1: 1882-1883; IPY 2: 1932-1933; IPY 3 / IGY: 1957-1958; IPY 4: 2007-2008). Together with millennia of Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge production, the IPYs form a long chain of coordinated polar research and credible scientific evidence on socio-ecological changes in the polar regions. This record of biophysical and social changes and our understanding of their impacts to the polar systems themselves (particularly for Indigenous communities, residents and human visitors), offers a unique opportunity to more deeply understand global processes, make informed decisions and act accordingly.
Encompassing planning, project, and legacy phases implemented over a span of ten years, IPY-5 is an opportunity for many countries, institutions, and networks to coordinate their research, observations, protocols, and expeditions in the polar regions. It provides the necessary opportunities for global and transdisciplinary coordinated research action among polar researchers, knowledge holders, rights holders, educators, and other stakeholders to produce urgently needed actionable information that will support evidence- and human rights- based solutions to local and global challenges. Meaningful impact is supported by an inclusive and coordinated approach across different scientific disciplines, programmes, and knowledge systems including through co-production and co-creation of knowledge as well as education and community/citizen science approaches. IPY-5 also supports progress towards achieving implementation of international treaties, agreements, and other large-scale international processes including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2023 Helsinki Declaration on Climate Change and Antarctica adopted by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, and the 4th International Conference on Arctic Research Planning Process (ICARP IV), as well as several relevant UN Decades.
IPY-5 will leverage these, and other initiatives, which together highlight the need for greater international coordination to provide the credible scientific evidence needed for effective decision-making on urgent local to global issues.