Recommendations
| Project | Type | # | Outcome | Report | Year | FEC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBMP Marine Biodiversity Monitoring | Key finding | Increasing numbers and diversity of southern species are moving into Arctic waters. In some cases, they may outcompete and prey on Arctic species, or offer a less nutritious food source for Arctic species. | State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring | 2017 | ||
| CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring | Key finding | Changing frequency, intensity and timing of extreme and unusual weather events due to climate change are affecting some species, with unknown effects on populations. | State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring | 2021 | ||
| Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) | Recommendation | 2 | Identify measures for detecting early warnings of biodiversity change and triggering conservation actions.Move towards a stronger reliance on early warnings of ecosystem change, rather than on population trends as triggers for making decisions. Aside from catastrophic die-offs and breeding failure, impacts from changes in sea ice are often incremental, such as a reduced rate of reproduction or survival, or less energy intake from prey. Impacts may take years to be detected in population trends, especially for long-lived animals. Measures such as reduced body condition or changes in ice-dependent prey species are evidence of impacts that can be acted on before declines are detected in abundance or distribution. In some cases these earlier actions will prevent or lessen population declines. Factors to consider in selecting such measures of change include long-term costs and benefits, support by research, ability to be updated, and suitability for determining thresholds for action. | Life Linked to Ice: A guide to sea-ice-associated biodiversity in this time of rapid change | 2013 | |
| Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative (AMBI) | Advice | 4 | Monitoring nest incorporation and entanglement: Black-legged kittiwake and northern gannet (Morus bassanus) nests should be monitored for nest incorporation of and entanglement in plastic pollution. | Plastic Pollution in Seabirds: Developing a program to monitor plastic pollution in seabirds in the pan-Arctic region | 2021 | |
| CBird: Seabird Expert Group | 1.4 | Reduce predation. 1.4.1 Remove non-native predators in key breeding colonies. | International Black-legged Kittiwake - Conservation Strategy and Action Plan | 2021 | ||
| CBird: Seabird Expert Group | 2.3 | Limit human disturbance to a level that does not decrease breeding success. 2.3.1. Identify significant risks of disturbance activities and sensitive locations. 2.3.2. Develop guidelines (codes-of-conduct) for potentially harmful organized activities near colonies e.g. tourism, research (all fields), harvest, air- and ship traffic as well as individual activities such as kayaking, fishing etc. 2.3.3. Introduce area restrictions for high risk activities and promote regulations in adequate formats. 2.3.4. Improve and standardize methods for Environmental Impact Assessments. 2.3.5. Increase the knowledge on impacts of marine installations on seabirds (noise, light, pollution etc.). 2.3.6. Execute spatial planning and environmental assessments taking seabird management priorities into account. 2.3.7. Create no-conflict artificial nesting sites in locations where kittiwakes have moved into human settlements. | International Black-legged Kittiwake - Conservation Strategy and Action Plan | 2021 | ||
| CBird: Seabird Expert Group | Coordination and consultation Objective Ensure proper coordination with existing programs that affect Ivory Gulls, and encourage awareness of this Ivory Gull Strategy and broad participation in its implementation. Actions • Support other international and national Ivory Gull conservation initiatives. • Review existing programs and plans that affect Ivory Gulls to assure proper coordination as plans develop to implement the Strategy. • Enlist the support of people and groups that are interested in Ivory Gulls; especially local northern residents. • Solicit evaluation of actions carried out under the Strategy by specialists in Ivory Gull biology and other relevant disciplines. • Prepare periodic reports summarizing the status of Ivory Gull populations and accomplishments in Ivory Gull conservation. • Ensure that Ivory Gull conservation projects include an educational component. | International Ivory Gull Conservation Strategy and Action Plan | 2008 | |||
| Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Arctic Mining | Advice | Lack of alignment among government agencies in regard to environmental permitting, particularly environmental review requirements. Local, state/territory and national permitting requirements can be perceived by industry to be arduous, repetitive and/or misaligned causing unnecessary burdens that do not clearly translate into useful information or benefits for biodiversity conservation or sustainable development. For example, excessive data collection and reporting requirements without strategic coordination and partnering that could benefit government agencies, industry and the public. This can lead to separate government agencies asking for the same information in different ways or seeking extraneous information that does not help inform decision-making, resulting in unnecessary time and resources expended. Government agencies could:
Mining industry could:
CAFF could:
| Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Arctic Mining Challenges and Proposed Solutions | 2019 | ||
| Actions for Arctic Biodiversity 2025-2035 | Action | 4 | Establish a monitoring and evaluation framework for implementation of the actions for Arctic biodiversity. 4.1 Develop indicators to monitor implementation of the Actions for Arctic Biodiversity, assess and evaluate effectiveness of implementation, and report in relevant fora. | Actions for Arctic Biodiversity 2025-2035 | 2025 | |
| Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative (AMBI) | Action | 2 | Harvest assessments and mitigation of unsustainable harvest of Arctic birds 2.1 Work with CBird to promote dialogue with authorities for management plans to combine the knowledge of status of hunted species between countries 2.2 Assess the population-level impact of seabird harvest in relation to other stressors 2.3 Conduct/update holistic harvest studies for circumpolar regions of interest using approaches tailored to regional contexts as appropriate | AMBI Work Plan 2019-2025: Circumpolar Flyway | 2021 | |
| Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) | Key finding | 8 | Current knowledge of many Arctic species, ecosystems and their stressors is fragmentary, making detection and assessment of trends and their implications difficult for many aspects of Arctic biodiversity. | Arctic Biodiversity Assessment: Report for Policy Makers | 2013 | |
| Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) | Recommendation | 15 | Promote public training, education and community-based monitoring, where appropriate, as integral elements in conservation and management. | Arctic Biodiversity Assessment: Report for Policy Makers | 2013 | |
| Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) | Action | 11 | Reduce the threat of pollutants to Arctic biodiversity. a. Support and enhance international efforts and cooperation to identify, assess and reduce existing and emerging harmful contaminants. 11.1. Provide information necessary for assessment of trends in, among others, contaminant levels in ecosystems, biological effects, and improve predictive capacity (Trends and Effects Monitoring Programme). 11.2. Prepare an update assessment of Persistent Organic Pollutants and resulting biological effects. 11.3. Develop ecosystem models that project ecosystem response to climate change and contaminant-related factors (AACA-C). b. Support the development of appropriate prevention and clean up measures and technologies that are responsive to oil spills in the Arctic, especially in ice-filled waters, such that they are ready for implementation in advance of major oil and gas developments. 11.4. Implement the Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution, Preparedness andResponse in the Arctic , including executing international exercises and maintaining and updating the Operational Guidelines. 11.5. Prepare a Guide to Oil Spill Response in Snow and Ice Conditions in the Arctic. c. Encourage local and national action to implement best practices for local wastes, enhance efforts to clean-up legacy contaminated sites and include contaminant reduction and reclamation plans in development projects. 11.6. Demonstrate rapid assessment and clean-up of old sites, and environmentally sounddestruction of obsolete pesticides in northern Russia. 11.7. Organize an information conference on best practices on contaminant reduction in Indigenous communities. | Actions for Arctic Biodiversity, 2013-2021: Implementing the recommendations of the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment | 2015 | |
| Advice | Develop realistic scenarios to help predict what could happen, given different policy options, in the short term (10 to 15 years) and the long term (over 50 years). | Arctic Biodiversity Congress 2014, Co-Chairs Report | 2014 | |||
| Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) | Action | CHALLENGE Research is not year-round and data gaps are many in the remote Arctic. POTENTIAL ACTIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES Traditional Knowledge and Wisdom can fill data gaps since observations are year-round and often draw on long time frames | Arctic Traditional Knowledge and Wisdom: Changes in the North American Arctic | 2017 | ||
| Arctic Species Trend Index (ASTI) | Key finding | 7 | A number of species in our data set showed declines across flyway regions, e.g., Red knot Calidris canutus. Others have increased more recently, e.g., Greater white-fronted goose Anser albifrons. | Arctic Species Trend Index: Migratory Birds Index | 2015 | |
| 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) | Key finding | 1.2.5 | Suggestions for Wetlands Planning, Research, and Management.
| Arctic Wetlands and Indigenous Peoples Study: An assessment of Indigenous engagement in wetland protected areas | 2021 | |
| Arctic TEEB | Key finding | 2.6 | Arctic ecosystem services: Arctic environmental conditions are associated with potential for rapid changes in ecosystem services and high uncertainty – providing a strong incentive to include ecosystem services in policy. | The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for the Arctic: A Scoping Study Executive Summary | 2015 |
Arctic Council Working Group