Tromsø Forum on Atlantic Media and the Environment (FAME-V)

The next U.S.-European environmental journalists’ conference organized by the CSIS Transatlantic Media Network (TMN) will be held in Oslo and Tromsø, Norway, June 5-9, 2011, with a focus on Arctic issues. The conference will be the fifth Forum on Atlantic Media and the Environment (FAME-V), following earlier meetings in Missoula, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Boulder.

Like its predecessors, the Tromsø conference will bring together around two dozen leading environmental journalists from a number of different European countries and around the United States, representing a wide range of media from print to broadcast, electronic, and photojournalism.

The conference will be composed of three main elements: discussions of professional challenges among the journalists and presentations of journalists’ work; briefings by scientists, government officials, and other experts; fieldtrips and visits.

Participants will gather in Oslo Sunday, June 5, meet with Norwegian government officials Monday, June 6, and fly to Tromsø, Norway’s Arctic capital, that afternoon. They will spend four nights in Tromsø, with departure Friday, June 10.

The Tromsø forum will concentrate on the many environmental, energy, and resource challenges facing the High North and place them in a wider political, economic, and strategic context. Discussions will cover issues such as monitoring the offshore oil and gas industry, climate change, renewable energy, persistent pollutants, Arctic ecosystems, management and sustainability of fisheries, and special local environmental projects.

FAME gatherings have led to the formation of a unique transatlantic network of environmental journalists that allows participants to exchange reports, contacts, ideas, and other journalistic information and resources. Each successive conference aims both to expand this network and to create new opportunities for constructive international collaboration in environmental reporting.