| Project |
Type |
# |
Outcome |
Report |
Year |
FEC |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Key finding | 13 | There are numerous models for providing
financial support to conservation or restoration of
wetlands. Each of the Arctic states has developed
ways to provide financial support for wetlands
conservation and restoration efforts. While some
of the particular strengths and benefits of each
set of policies, program or model are country
context-specific, many lessons are generalizable
and therefore useful for expanding collaboration
across the Arctic states. A systematic review
of these national-level restoration financing
initiatives would provide valuable insights into
development of effective tools. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 16 | Support long-term development of open access
spatial databases for wetland data that
allow interactive use, application of different
classification systems and on-the-fly wetland
map production. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Key finding | 6 | Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge and stewardship is important for successful management of Arctic wetlands. Participation and leadership by Indigenous Peoples is needed for decision-making and management of Arctic wetlands. Indigenous Peoples’ hold extensive and unique knowledge regarding the wetlands in their homelands. Inmany places, long-term indigenous stewardship has partly shaped present-day wetland biodiversity and functioning, maintaining traditional land-use practices that acts to preserve wetland resilience. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 9 | Wetland policy should recognize the legacy and future importance of Indigenous Peoples’ stewardship and the need for collaborative, integrated management of Arctic wetlands. As outlined in the Arctic Wetlands and Indigenous Peoples Study, develop pilot studies on comanagement practices to support meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples in future Arctic wetlands projects, and encourage indigenous participation in developing wetlands inventories covering traditional use areas. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 2 | Actively support efforts to maintain or strengthen
natural ecosystem capacity for climate change
mitigation, primarily through conservation
and restoration measures in Arctic and Boreal
wetlands. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 18 | Inventory, harmonize and pool knowledge
about financial models and frameworks being
used to support restoration and conservation
and investigate potential pan-Arctic or transboundary
initiatives, with a particular focus on
engagement by local and Indigenous Peoples. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Key finding | 8 | Improved public and policy maker understanding of wetland functions and vulnerability would likely foster greater interest in protecting and conserving Arctic wetlands and strengthen involvement in promoting sustainable wetland use. Yet, the ways in which public opinion and networks of interested commercial and civil society organizations influence the development and implementation of wetlands conservation, restoration and stewardship in the Arctic are
poorly understood. Systematic knowledge of the
array of interest organizations’ relationships to
wetlands and how they engage on questions of
balancing conservation and use would support
the development of more coherent and effective
policies. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 11 | Support research on how public opinion,
in national, regional, local, and Indigenous
communities as well as societal interests’ policy
and advocacy networks affect development
and implementation of Arctic wetlands policy,
restoration efforts, and management. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Key finding | 1 | Arctic wetlands provide important ecosystem services to Arctic and global communities, including cooling the global climate. They provide clean water and buffer floods and droughts, support fisheries and hunting, support biodiversity, and act as long-term sinks for atmospheric carbon. Wetlands are an integral part of many Indigenous Peoples’ lives; they provide and sustain food security, including grazing for traditional reindeer herding. Recognition of wetlands’ importance, including in the Arctic, is growing as their role in sustaining a wide range of ecosystem services becomes better understood. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 4 | Develop pan-Arctic inventory of protected
wetlands and completed, ongoing or planned
restoration projects, Indigenous led and
partnership projects, with country cases
contributed by each Arctic State and with the list
to be managed by CAFF. Such cases can serve as
pilot and demonstration projects for other rapid
action. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 20 | Integrate wetland monitoring with CAFF CBMP
monitoring where possible, with the CBMP
Terrestrial, Coastal and Freshwater monitoring
plans. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Key finding | 10 | Substantial and rapid benefits for ecosystem
services such as climate stability, biodiversity
conservation and hydrological systems could
be gained through restoration of drained or
degraded Arctic peatlands. Degraded wetlands
exist in all Arctic states and are particularly
common in Boreal regions where extensive
drainage for forestry, mining or peat extraction
has occurred, or in Tundra where vulnerable
permafrost wetlands have been degraded by
unsustainable human land-use. Re-wetting of
artificially drained or restoration of damaged
wetlands could lead to substantial increases
in natural carbon sink capacities. To achieve
long-term success, restoration efforts should
be planned together with conservation of
undamaged systems as part of a landscape scale
approach to sustainable management. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 13 | Develop a tool for translating between existing
national and international wetland classifications
systems, identify where there is presently no
way to translate between systems and explore
potential benefits of developing unified Arctic
and Boreal wetland classification systems. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Key finding | 3 | Anthropogenic climate change is a serious threat
to Arctic wetland ecosystems and exacerbates many other threats. Widespread climate change
impacts in Arctic wetlands are ongoing and
projected to increase in this century and reducing
greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to limit
these impacts. Climate-driven permafrost thaw
and increased drought conditions impacting
wetland ecosystems will cause greater fire
occurrences and shifts in hydrological flows,
affecting wetland ecosystem services and
biodiversity. Sea level change and declines in
sea ice are driving increases in coastal erosion
that threatens many coastal wetlands. Thawing
permafrost is projected to transform peatlands
from a net sink of greenhouse gases to a net
source lasting for several centuries. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 6 | Develop a uniform inventory of degraded Arctic
wetlands with potential for restoration. Many
candidate sites for restoration are known, but
the exact extent and location of other damaged
or degraded wetland systems remains poorly
known. Encourage Arctic states to identify data
gaps where wetland extent and condition are
unknown and can be prioritized for inventory. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Key finding | 12 | There is a need for new pan-Arctic wetland maps
based on a uniform approach, thus ensuring
comparable accuracy and data quality across the
full Arctic domain. Such mapping efforts should
ideally train and validate algorithms using
existing national wetland inventories, relevant
institutional data, inclusive of Indigenous
Knowledge and/or input from Arctic communities.
Maps are needed that show the spatial extent of
discrete wetland complexes at high resolution and
should separate mineral wetlands from organic
wetlands (peatlands). On the shorter term, new
maps of wetland extent will be bound to one
specific classification system; it is not possible to
address the diversity of existing systems. Over
the longer term, boundaries between maps and
monitoring dissolve. Spatial wetland data can
be stored in spatial databases that allow flexible
adaptation to different classification systems. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 15 | Support the ongoing work with the Arctic SDI to
develop a pan-Arctic wetland map making use
of modern remote sensing and data processing
methods but supported by existing national and
local data and inventories. Work with individual
nations on a plan for incorporating this product
into their national systems. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Key finding | 5 | In some regions, Arctic wetlands are already
degraded by human land use and an ever growing
human footprint poses threats to
wetland functioning. This damage occurs in
both Arctic and Boreal zones and arises from a
number of threats such as expansion of forestry,
agriculture, hydropower, extraction of peat, fossil
fuels or minerals, threats to coastal wetlands from
increased Arctic shipping and construction of
new infrastructure. Wetlands are also vulnerable
to human disturbances to permafrost or adjacent
upland habitats and changes to the water
balance or hydrological connectivity that can
transform wetland function. Drained wetlands
release carbon to the atmosphere instead of
storing it, and the negative effect lasts for decades
to centuries. Other losses of function include loss
of biodiversity, changes to habitats and reduced
capacity to buffer floods or droughts. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 8 | Ensure that national conservation or development
plans that impact wetlands meaningfully engage
Arctic communities, Indigenous Peoples, and
stakeholders to consider the broader landscape
impacts of changes to wetlands, including
developments that may affect wetlands within
river basins. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Recommendation | 1 | Encourage Arctic cooperation to amplify efforts
to reduce fossil fuel emissions both inside and
outside the Arctic. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands: Key Findings and Recommendations | 2021 | |
Arctic Council Working Group