Recommendations

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.

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

Mitigate effects of over-abundant white geese populations on shorebird habitat

2.1 Implement management actions resulting from study of white geese impacts in Canada (undertaken as part of AMBI Phase 1)

Require the incorporation of biodiversity objectives and provisions into all Arctic Council work and encourage the same for on-going and future international standards, agreements, plans, operations and/or other tools specific to development in the Arctic. This should include, but not be restricted to, oil and gas development, shipping, fishing, tourism and mining.

4.1. Strengthen and develop new strategic partnerships, particularly with industry, to seek innovative solutions and expand responsibility for taking care of biodiversity.

4.2. Analyse the relationship between CAFF activities and international biodiversity objectives from relevant multilateral environmental agreements as a starting point for improved cooperation.

4.3. Develop a set of biodiversity principles for the Arctic Council, Observers, and stakeholders on incorporating biodiversity objectives and safeguards into their work, apply these principles to the activities of Arctic Council Working Groups and other Subsidiary Bodies, and evaluate the extent to which these activities respond to the ABA recommendations.

4.4. Develop, as needed, binding and/or voluntary agreements/standards that work towards the harmonization of industry-specific and cross-industry standards related to the conservation and/or sustainable use of biodiversity. This should considerhow to encourage the incorporation of biodiversity as a fundamental component of environmental and risk assessment work.

4.5. Provide information, expertise, and recommendations on conservation of Arctic ecosystems to policymakers.

4.6. Develop best practices for vessel-based Arctic marine tourism (Arctic Marine TourismProject- Best Practice Guidelines) (AMSA Recommendation IIIB).

4.7. Make monitoring and research results on species, including those relevant to maintaining and increasing resilience of biodiversity to climate change, accessible to all stakeholders, through the ABDS.

4.8. Strengthen collaboration with industry in Arctic biodiversity monitoring

Communication and consultation:

14. Support other eider conservation initiatives,

15. Ensure coordination with other bird conservation plans,

16. Enlist support of local residents and others interested in eiders,

17. Solicit periodic evaluation of the Strategy by eider specialists,

18. Prepare periodic reports summarizing accomplishments in eider conservation,

19. Ensure that eider conservation projects include an educational component.

Address environmental pollution issues

4.1 State of knowledge assessment for plastics in wildlife

4.2 Work with Arctic Council countries and Permanent Participants, PAME, and AMAP to begin to address knowledge gaps

Increase and focus inventory, long-term monitoring and research efforts to address key gaps in scientific knowledge identified in this assessment to better facilitate the development and implementation of conservation and management strategies. Areas of particular concern identified through the ABA include components critical to ecosystem functions including important characteristics of invertebrates, microbes, parasites and pathogens.

13.1. Share research gaps and priorities identified in the ABA with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) third International Conference on Arctic Research Planning to inform their research priorities.

13.2. Complete the Arctic coastal biodiversity monitoring plan and begin implementation.

13.3. Address monitoring and research gaps in scientific knowledge identified as priorities in the ABA and Arctic Biodiversity Congress, including components critical to ecosystem functions including invertebrates, microbes, parasites and pathogens.

13.4. Report on changes in Arctic species, ecosystems, and the effects of stressors through state of Arctic biodiversity reports.

a. Marine species and ecosystems

b. Terrestrial species and ecosystems

c. Freshwater species and ecosystems

d. Coastal species and ecosystems.

13.5. Explore development of a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the Arctic.

13.6. Develop and update taxonomic lists where there is a gap

a. Red List for Arctic Vascular Plants

b. Moss check list.

13.7. Complete the circumpolar boreal vegetation map.

13.8. Prepare a circumpolar seabird monitoring plan.

CHALLENGE It can be difficult for researchers to understand Traditional Knowledge and Wisdom, how it is validated, how to best apply it, especially elder wisdom, and how to effectively partner.

POTENTIAL ACTIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES Encourage equal partnerships and participation throughout biodiversity assessment projects that affect Indigenous peoples.

Reporting

8. Report annually to CAFF on each nation's progress in implementing this action plan.

9. Meet regularly to revise objectives and actions on the basis of shared information.

Determine climate change resilient areas of shorebird habitat and promote their protection

4.1 Carry out an analysis of the resilience of shorebird wintering habitat to climate change

4.2 Promote protection of climate change resilient shorebird breeding, wintering and migration habitats

Develop guidelines and implement appropriate spatial and temporal measures where necessary to reduce human disturbance to areas critical for sensitive life stages of Arctic species that are outside protected areas, for example along transportation corridors. Such areas include calving grounds, den sites, feeding grounds, migration routes and moulting areas. This also means safeguarding important habitats such as wetlands and polynyas.

6.1. Provide technical information, including mapping areas of high species abundance, unique Arctic diversity and those important for sensitive life stages, at a scale appropriate for use in planning.

6.2. Develop, where needed, guidelines or other tools, for safeguarding sensitive areas for biodiversity (outside protected areas) that are vulnerable to human activity and/or contribute to international processes developing such guidelines, including potential refugia that will maintain multi-year ice.

Supporting Indigenous Community-Based Monitoring: Supporting community-based monitoring as an approach to active participation in biodiversity research and management of protected area is beneficial for conservation efforts.

Seabirds

• Develop methods for assessing diet to increase our understanding of changes in the ecosystem and how they affect seabird populations.
• When selecting sites for new monitoring, consider proximity to hotspots for marine activities, access to the sea, and inclusion of plankton monitoring.
• Expand colony-based monitoring and strive to include a more complete array of parameters, in particular, diet and measures of survival.
• Consider a higher frequency of monitoring as current levels make it difficult to identify mechanisms or causes of change in populations.
• Conduct targeted surveys and individual tracking studies of seabird interactions at sea to improve our understanding of seabird interactions at sea, where seabirds spend most of their time.
• Continue to conduct at sea surveys on an opportunistic basis.

Birds: Most bird species are difficult to monitor and attribute change due to the large spatial extent of their breeding habitats and multiple threats throughout flyways. Current monitoring is uneven and inadequate. The START reports on herbivores, insectivores, carnivores, and omnivores.

• Sustaining long-term monitoring projects is the best opportunity to track changes in FECs and drivers of those changes.
• Expand monitoring of species and populations with unknown or uncertain trends such as waders in the Central Asian Flyway and East Asian–Australasian Flyway (under the Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative).
• Improve monitoring coverage of the high Arctic and other areas with poor spatial coverage (i.e., Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Greenland, and eastern Russia), including staging and wintering areas within and outside the Arctic.
• Adopt new and emerging monitoring technologies, including various tagging devices (for the study of distribution and migration, and identification of critical stopover and wintering sites), bioacoustics (for abundance and diversity sampling), and satellite data (for colony monitoring).
• Enhance coordination within and among Arctic and non-Arctic states to improve data collection on migratory species and critical site identification across species’ ranges.
• Harmonize long-term studies to improve the reliability of status and trends assessments, ability to report on FEC attributes (e.g., phenology), and possible effects of environmental change, including risks of phenological mismatch.
• Use research stations as platforms to increase data coordination, sampling, and analyses, of FECs and drivers, and ensure standardized bird monitoring is part of station mandates where lacking.
• Strengthen linkages with AMAP to improve contaminant monitoring at different trophic levels and facilitate cooperation on isotope and genetic studies.

Reporting Guidelines

• Provide appropriate opportunities for communication between those involved in carrying out the Strategy.
• Report annually to CAFF summarizing actions taken or planned under the Strategy.

Traditional and Local Knowledge (TLK): Utilizing Traditional and Local Knowledge and involvement of TK holders allows for increased understanding of relationships and changes underway in Arctic ecosystems, current and historical trends, and serves to build valuable partnerships on the ground in Arctic communities.

• Use Traditional and Local Knowledge within the design and implementation of monitoring plans. The Traditional and Local Knowledge of people living along and off the Arctic Ocean is an invaluable resource for understanding changes in Arctic marine ecosystems and its inclusion should be supported by national governments.
• Increase engagement and partnerships with local residents and easy to access technology in monitoring programs. Indigenous communities are important ‘first responders’ to catastrophic events. More importantly, their knowledge systems provide a wealth of knowledge that should be involved in the analysis of collected data for increased understanding of current trends and filling historical gaps.
• There is a need for TLK on a range of FECs and to engage networks of TLK holders and Indigenous organisations.
• Use both TLK and scientific information on the analysis of harvest levels and status when evaluating overall population health and managing hunts.