Arctic Council Working Group Recommendations
| Project | Type | # | Outcome | Report | Year | FEC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBird: Seabird Expert Group | 3.3 | Protect and manage key habitats on landand at sea as a significant contribution to safeguard populations. 3.3.1. Prepare a summary of protected areas containing important kittiwake habitats. 3.3.2. Evaluate the potential of ongoing tools such as the Framework for a Pan-Arctic Network of Marine Protected Areas and other mechanisms to protect habitats important to kittiwakes. 3.3.3. Identify important kittiwake habitats on land and at sea still requiring protection and designate them under national and international systems of protected areas (e.g. Birdlife International’s Important Bird Areas or OSPAR). 3.3.4. Identify, evaluate and implement additional conservation mechanisms such as treaties, agreements, regulations, and policies of value. Consider also collaboration with AMBI. | International Black-legged Kittiwake - Conservation Strategy and Action Plan | 2021 | ||
| CBird: Seabird Expert Group | Action | 4.2 | Non consumptive use: 6. Evaluate risks from human activities. 7. Encourage non-consumptive uses of eiders | Circumpolar Eider Conservation Strategy and Action Plan | 1997 | |
| CBird: Seabird Expert Group | Action | 3.4 | Habitat protection and enhancement 12. Identify important murre colonies and designate them under national and international systems of protected areas. 13. Promote the establishment of marine protected areas in important pelagic habitats for murres. 14. Contribute to the "Important Bird Areas" system to highlight important areas for murres. 15. Explore the establishment of an international network to identify and protect key areas for murres. 16. Ensure that conservation action will benefit populations, by assessing causes of population declines from an ecosystem perspective. 17. Undertake specific restoration activities to assist depressed populations to recover. | International Murre Conservation Strategy and Action Plan | 1996 | |
| Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative (AMBI) | Action | 4 | Reduce bycatch of seaducks in the Baltic Sea 4.1 Support the implementation of the AEWA Long-tailed Duck, Velvet Scoter and Common Eider International Single Species Action Plans with respect to the identified activities regarding bycatch under the auspices of the AEWA European Seaduck International Working Group. | AMBI Work Plan 2019-2025: African Eurasian Flyway | 2021 | |
| Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative (AMBI) | Action | 3 | Prevent illegal hunting and regulate unsustainable legal harvest of Arctic migratory birds along the flyway, with a focus on Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Lesser White-fronted Goose, Bar-tailed Godwit, and other priority species. 3.1 (Russia): Initiate surveys of hunting pressure and support development and implementation of national and regional strategies and action plans for the elimination of illegal harvest of birds in the Russian Far East. 3.2 (United States): Conduct outreach, assess the magnitude and impacts of legal subsistence harvest on priority birds in Alaska, with a focus on Emperor Goose and Bar-tailed Godwits. 3.3 (China): Support development and implementation of national and regional strategies, action plans and implementation activities for the elimination of poaching of birds in China. 3.4 (India): Work with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, Bombay Natural History Society and other Indian ministries and research institutions to promote AMBI work and address illegal hunting issues. 3.5 (All countries): Engage with the EAAFP and the CMS Task Forces on Illegal Killing/ Hunting, Taking and Trade of Birds to develop implementation of actions to address this threat to migratory Arctic-breeding birds. 3.6 (All countries): Work to curb the use of equipment for illegally captured birds. 3.7 (All countries): Raise the profile of illegal hunting, taking and trade of migratory Arctic birds by linking it to broader forums and discussions on illegal wildlife trade, the bushmeat trade, and wildlife crime discourse in CBD, CITES and other relevant organizations. 3.8 (All countries): Support an illegal hunting technical workshop to share expertise and address illegal hunting along the flyway. 3.9 (All countries): Develop or support monthly mist net surveys and removal activities in key Spoon-billed Sandpiper sites, using the positive experiences in China as an example. 3.10 (All countries): Initiate a research project to understand sustainable harvest, management practices and bird poaching mitigation along the Central and East Asian Flyway considering cultural traditions with the equitable engagement and partnership of Arctic Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous Knowledge. 3.11 (USA and Russia): Work to assess legal and illegal Emperor Goose harvest in Russia and Alaska to develop a consistent Beringia-wide legal framework for the management and long-term sustainability of the species that works within the Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council and other Indigenous management organizations. 3.12 (Russia, China, India): Prioritise conservation of Eastern and Central Asian populations of Lesser White-fronted Goose (LWFG) and reverse their declining trends including analysis of existing satellite tracking and migratory movement data. | AMBI Work Plan 2019-2025: Central and East Asian Flyways | 2021 | |
| Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) | Recommendation | 5 | Advance the protection of large areas of ecologically important marine, terrestrial and freshwater habitats, taking into account ecological resilience in a changing climate. a. Build upon existing and on-going domestic and international processes to complete the identification of ecologically and biologically important marine areas and implement appropriate measures for their conservation. b. Build upon existing networks of terrestrial protected areas, filling geographic gaps, including underrepresented areas, rare or unique habitats, particularly productive areas such as large river deltas, biodiversity hotspots, and areas with large aggregations of animals such as bird breeding colonies, seal whelping areas and caribou calving grounds. c. Promote the active involvement of Indigenous peoples in the management and sustainable use ofprotected areas. | Arctic Biodiversity Assessment: Report for Policy Makers | 2013 | |
| Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) | Action | 1 | Actively support international efforts addressing climate change, both reducing stressors and implementing adaptation measures, as an urgent matter. Of specific importance are efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce emissions of black carbon, methane and tropospheric ozone precursors. 1.1. Addressing short-lived climate forcers. a. Negotiate an Arctic Council Framework for Enhanced Action on Black Carbon and Methane. b. Implement existing Arctic Council recommendations on short-lived climate forcers. c. Hold a workshop on the reduction of black carbon emissions from residential woodcombustion in the Arctic that identifies voluntary actions to reduce emissions. d. Diesel black carbon reduction in the Russian Arctic. e. Prepare scientific assessments on black carbon and tropospheric ozone and on methane. f. Follow-up projects on reducing black carbon, including: the transport and dieselgenerator sectors; the Arctic Case Studies Platform; and convening a conference on best practices on contaminant reduction in Indigenous communities. 1.2. Mainstream biodiversity into the climate change agenda, including adaptation and mitigation, through outreach. | Actions for Arctic Biodiversity, 2013-2021: Implementing the recommendations of the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment | 2015 | |
| Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) | Action | 17 | Develop communication and outreach tools and methodologies to better convey the importance and value of Arctic biodiversity and the changes it is undergoing. 17.1. Implement CAFF’s communications strategy and update as needed. 17.2. Develop tools to raise awareness of Arctic biodiversity, and the multiple challenges it faces, for example Through the Lens photography competition, and create publications, articles, films, social media, media campaigns and educational kits. 17.3. Provide status and trend information to international fora and national agencies to promote the importance of Arctic biodiversity and to facilitate reporting through multilateral environmental agreements and other international processesa. Reframe the results of the ABA as a regional biodiversity outlook for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and as a contribution to the biodiversity and ecosystem services regional reports for the Americas and Europe and Central Asia being prepared for Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. b. Report to the CBD on progress of the Arctic region towards achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. 17.4. Develop educational materials based on the ABA (in several languages). a. Pilot: educational toolkit on Arctic ecology for children ages 9-11. 17.5 Develop and implement outreach products to communicate the outcomes of this plan | Actions for Arctic Biodiversity, 2013-2021: Implementing the recommendations of the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment | 2015 | |
| Advice | Include biodiversity in national accounting so that the true value of healthy Arctic ecosystems is understood, and the true costs of biodiversity loss are accounted for. | Arctic Biodiversity Congress 2014, Co-Chairs Report | 2014 | |||
| Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) | Key finding | 3 | Develop effective partnerships and/or formalized systems of sharing among indigenous peoples and scientists to more fully engage this wide range of human intelligence to understand the complexities of managing biodiversity in the Arctic; for example, TK&W can provide early warnings of environmentalchange, indicate connections between phenomena, and fill data gaps. | Arctic Traditional Knowledge and Wisdom: Changes in the North American Arctic | 2017 | |
| Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) | Key finding | The key obstacles to scaling up and expanding wetlands restoration and management efforts in the Arctic are not due to a lack of knowledge about wetlands ecosystems processes and functions, or steps that can be taken to improve their status. Policy design and difficulties with implementation appear often to be obstacles, however, and accurate, up-to-date mapping is needed to target policy initiatives. | Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands Phase 2 Report | 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) | Advice | 6 | Approaching Engagement: Much can be learned from each Arctic State, their protected areas, their management authorities, and their Indigenous communities. a) Approach Indigenous participation as an opportunity, b) Seek to build partnerships with Indigenous governments, organizations, and communities, c) Engage Indigenous leadership and communities at the beginning of the process, d) Welcome elders, recruit youth | Arctic Wetlands and Indigenous Peoples Study: An assessment of Indigenous engagement in wetland protected areas | 2021 | |
| Arctic TEEB | Key finding | 3.6 | Governance: Key Finding 3.6. Mainstreaming of nature’s values by means of ecosystem services requires adjustments to existing policies and instruments as well as the development of new ones. | The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for the Arctic: A Scoping Study Executive Summary | 2015 | |
| CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring | Key finding | For this reason we urge wider gathering of age ratio data, and marking programmes to provide annual assessments of reproductive success and survival, particularly amongst populations showing declines. | A Global Audit of the Status and Trends of Arctic And Northern Hemisphere Goose Populations | 2018 | ||
| CBMP Freshwater Biodiversity Monitoring | Key finding | Patterns of biodiversity vary across the Arctic, but ecoregions that have historically warmer temperatures and connections to the mainland generally have higher biodiversity than those with cold temperatures (high latitude or altitude) or on remote islands. | State of the Arctic Freshwater Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring | 2016 | ||
| CBMP Marine Biodiversity Monitoring | Advice | Community-based monitoring networks and community relationship building:
| State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring | 2017 | ||
| CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring | Advice | Indigenous Knowledge: The CBMP Terrestrial Plan aims to utilize both Indigenous Knowledge and science. Despite efforts, Indigenous Knowledge has not been systematically included in the START. To obtain a full assessment of the status and trends, better understand relationships and changes, and fill key knowledge gaps, there must be improved engagement with Indigenous Knowledge holders, Indigenous governments, and Indigenous monitoring programs not only in development of assessments but in collaboratively building more comprehensive monitoring programs and initiatives.
| State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring | 2021 | ||
| Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) | Key finding | 6 | Long-term observations based on the best available traditional and scientific knowledge are required to identify changes in biodiversity, assess the implications of observed changes, and develop adaptation strategies. | Arctic Biodiversity Trends 2010 – Selected indicators of change | 2010 |