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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Advance and advocate ecosystem-based management efforts in the Arctic as a framework for cooperation, planning and development. This includes an approach to development that proceeds cautiously, with sound short and long-term environmental risk assessment and management, using the best available scientific and traditional ecological knowledge, following the best environmental practices, considering cumulative effects and adhering to international standards.

3.1. Provide information (including traditional knowledge) to Arctic Council initiatives that include, or are developing, an ecosystem approach including the principles for incorporation of biodiversity (Action 4.3).

3.2. Ongoing activities based on the revised Terms of Reference of the Joint Ecosystem Approach Expert Group (marine), including preparation of reports on Status of Setting Ecological Objectives, Work on Integrated Ecosystem Assessments of Arctic LMEs, Status of Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach to Management in the Arctic, a scoping document on the use of information on identified areas of heightened ecological and cultural significance for assessment and management purposes within LMEs.

3.3. Follow-up to the Ecosystem-Based Management Expert Group work on advancing ecosystem based management in the work of the Arctic Council.

3.4. Prepare an implementation plan for the Arctic Marine Strategic Plan 2015-2025.

3.5. Continue to promote collaboration among Arctic states as they implement the Polar Code (AMSA IIB).

Implementation plan for ABA recommendations (Actions for Arctic Biodiversity).

a. Prepare, track, and update biennially the plan.

b. Review and update actions in plan by all Working Groups and Task Forces related to ABA recommendations.

c. Evaluate progress on implementing the ABA recommendations and produce recommendations for follow-up work.

d. Encourage states to develop national implementation plans consistent with this implementation plan for the ABA recommendations as an essential adaptation measure.