Alain Hubert
Alain Hubert (born September 11, 1953, in Schaerbeek) is a Belgian explorer. He is a certified mountain and polar guide, a civil engineer, and the founder President of the International Polar Foundation. With the Foundation and its private partners, he built and financed the construction of the scientific research station ‘Princess Elisabeth’. This station is the first ‘Zero Emissions’ station in Antarctica, designed under the spirit of the Madrid protocol system establishing in 1992 the strictest environmental rules to date for a continent through the Antarctic Treaty System. Biography. Alain Hubert obtained his Civil Engineering diploma from the  University of Louvain (UCLouvain) in 1974. As an adolescent, he became an avid practitioner of outdoor sports: mountaineering, marathon, back-country ski and para-gliding. Professionally, he founded a cooperative specialized in carpentry and joinery (CHERBAI) and established himself in the Belgian Ardennes. Alain Hubert has been going on major polar and mountaineering expeditions. His achievements include being the first Belgian to ever reach the North Pole in 1994 with Didier Goetghebuer, a world record crossing of the Antarctic continent (3924 km in 99 days) with Dixie Dansercoer in 1998 and 5 attempts at summitting Mount Everest. The Arctic Arc  expedition with Dixie Dansercoer in 2007 was the First ever Siberia-Greenland crossing via the North Pole. During his expeditions, Alain Hubert witnessed the pace and magnitude of climate change first hand and dedicated himself to that cause. He collaborates with scientists and collects ground data for them during his expeditions both in Antarctica and the Arctic (for example snow depth ground data for Cryosat during his Arctic Arc Expedition). He is the founders of the International Polar Foundation, with the scientists André Berger and Hugo Decleir. The International Polar Foundation supports polar scientific research and promotes informed action on  climate change and the development of a sustainable society. During the 2004-2005 and 2008-2009 BELARE Campaigns, the International Polar Foundation built the first-ever "Zero Emissions" Antarctic Research Station: Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. The project was initiated by Alain Hubert and funded by private partners and the Belgian government.