Recommendations

Promote public training, education and community-based monitoring, where appropriate, as integral elements in conservation and management.

15.1. Update CAFF’s strategy and guidelines for community-based monitoring, including tools and exploration of how to better integrate this type of monitoring with existing monitoring and ways to use it in early warning systems to detect changes.

15.2. Increase engagement of youth and early career scientists in the activities of CAFF to train the next generation of conservation leaders.

Address individual and cumulative effects of stressors and drivers of Arctic biodiversity loss.

1.1 Enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation through ecosystem-based approaches and nature-based solutions to minimize the impact of climate change on Arctic biodiversity.

1.2 Contribute to reducing the threats of pollution to Arctic biodiversity.

1.3 Provide scientific knowledge and Indigenous Knowledge to support management actions to enable recovery and conservation of species and ecosystems.

1.4 Support efforts to minimize the threat of invasive alien/non-native species to Arctic biodiversity.

1.5 Contribute to area-based conservation measures including Indigenous-led and managed, protected, or conserved areas, and restoration of degraded Arctic ecosystems.

1.6 Promote appropriate measures to reduce human disturbances.

Mitigate habitat impairment from destruction and degradation of coastal habitats and productive landscapes

6.1 Evaluate the impacts of habitat loss and degradation from agriculture, aquaculture, renewable energy production and tourism development on shorebirds and their habitats in Latin America

6.2 Ensure mitigation measures are incorporated into development decisions

6.3 Designate important sites under appropriate international conservation frameworks (e.g. Ramsar Convention, WHSRN, World Heritage)

6.4 Work with communities and governments to protect important sites

Reduce stressors on migratory species range-wide, including habitat degradation and overharvesting on wintering and staging areas and along flyways and other migration routes.

a. Pursue or strengthen formal migratory bird cooperation agreements and other specific actions on a flyway level between Arctic and non-Arctic states with first priority given to the East Asian flyway.

b. Collaborate with relevant international commissions, conventions, networks and other organizations sharing an interest in the conservation of Arctic migratory species to identify and implement appropriate conservation actions.

c. Develop and implement joint management and recovery plans for threatened species with relevant non-Arctic states and entities. d. Identify and advance the conservation of key wintering and staging habitats for migratory birds, particularly wetlands.

CHALLENGE There is no consistent approach to working with Traditional Knowledge and Wisdom.

POTENTIAL ACTIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES Create best practices through demonstration projects and on-the-ground work, including an evaluation of past projects and analysis of what worked and what didn’t.

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.

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.

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.

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

Advance enabling conditions to support implementation of actions.

3.1 Strengthen opportunities to inform and interact with international and national processes.

3.2 Strengthen Arctic Council and CAFF networks to better address biodiversity conservation and ensure engagement of key partners.

3.3 Mobilize people, funding and infrastructure to support implementation.

3.4 Improve communication on the importance of Arctic biodiversity and sustainable management, including challenges, needs and successes.

3.5 Support the participation of Indigenous Peoples and the Permanent Participants, to enable continued Indigenous-led conservation and management of Arctic biodiversity.

3.6 Support mainstreaming biodiversity, including in sectors driving biodiversity loss and/or of importance in the Arctic.

Enhance data collection and data input into habitat protection initiatives

1.1 Raise awareness and facilitate protection of key marine bird habitats that intersect with human activities using various regulatory and planning processes as appropriate to protect marine birds while they are at-sea.

1.2 Support country participation on circumpolar collaborations to enhance Ivory Gull surveys and collection and synthesis of marine bird tracking data (including Ivory Gulls).

1.3 Knowledge gap analysis of circumpolar seabird tracking studies.

Promote the sustainable management of the Arctic’s living resources and their habitat.

a. Improve circumpolar cooperation in data gathering and assessment of populations and harvestand in the development of improved harvest methods, planning, and management. This includes improving the use and integration of traditional ecological knowledge and science in managing harvests and in improving the development and use of community-based monitoring as an importantinformation source.

10.1. Improve data and assessments on populations, harvest and harvest management, including both traditional knowledge and science, as foundation for harvest management (e.g., Arctic Geese).

10.2. Further develop community-based monitoring as a tool to aid in tracking populations, harvest and harvest management.

b. Develop pan-Arctic conservation and management plans for shared species that are, or will potentiallybe, harvested or commercially exploited that incorporate common monitoring objectives, population assessments, harvesting regimes, guidelines for best practices in harvest methodology and consider maintenance of genetic viability and adaptation to climate change as guiding principles.

10.3. Develop range-wide adaptive management strategies for those harvested species identified under Action 8.3.

c. Support efforts to plan and manage commercial fisheries in international waters under commoninternational objectives that ensure long-term sustainability of species and ecosystems. Encourage precautionary, science-based management of fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction in accordance with international law to ensure the long-term sustainability of species and ecosystems.

10.4. Provide biodiversity and ecosystem information to the proposed US Chairmanship priority of developing a Regional Seas Program for the Arctic Ocean.

d. Support efforts to develop, improve and employ fishing technologies and practices that reduce bycatch of marine mammals, seabirds and non-target fish and avoid significant adverse impact to the seabed.

10.5. Update CAFF reports on incidental take of seabirds in commercial fisheries in the Arctic.

e. Develop and implement, in cooperation with reindeer herders, management plans that ensure thesustainability of reindeer herding and the quality of habitat for grazing and calving.

10.6. Maintain and further develop sustainable and resilient reindeer husbandry (EALLU Arctic Indigenous Youth Climate Change and Food Culture).

CHALLENGE Fragmented research, lack of people working across disciplines.

POTENTIAL ACTIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES Traditional Knowledge and Wisdom can provide information that may indicate connections between phenomena; it can assist the scientists and researchers in developing ecosystem approaches to monitoring, research, and management.

Research and monitoring:

22. Coordinate circumpolar murre population monitoring and store data in standardized databases.

23. Conduct research on population demography at circumpolar monitoring sites.

24. Develop a coordinated circumpolar murre banding program.

25. Monitor murre feeding ecology and food availability.

26. Monitor murre mortality due to oil pollution, commercial fisheries, and hunting.

27. Conduct research to develop techniques to reduce entrapment in fishing nets.

28. Develop management techniques to restore habitats and populations.

29. Consider the effects of global warming and local eutrophication on murre populations.

30. Assess the need to conduct research into the genetics of murre populations.

Understand the expansion of white geese populations in Arctic shorebird habitat

1.1 Understand impacts of populations of white geese on other bird species in western Canada

1.2 Understand trends in the populations of white geese in Alaska and their impacts on shorebird breeding habitats

Address other threats to Arctic migratory birds along Central and East Asian Flyways and improve international cooperation

5.1 (All countries): Analyse and assess development aid funding structures in high-income-countries and explore opportunities to help identify how AMBI can empower communities to support conservation of important priority species’ habitats, and develop solutions to address illegal hunting where pressures exist.

5.2. (All countries): Initiate work on evaluation of the effect of contaminants and/or pathogens on Arctic-breeding migratory birds as factors possibly decreasing their survival and reproduction potential and estimate bio-transition along the flyway to the Arctic.

5.3. (All countries): Promote cooperation between EAAFP’s Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force and AMBI in addressing Spoon-billed Sandpiper conservation activities identified in this workplan.

5.4. (All countries): Create an intervention tool box to ensure resilience of Arctic-breeding migratory birds along Central and East Asian Flyways with the involvement of Arctic Council Observer countries as recommended by the draft AMBI crosswalk analysis under the PSI funded project.