CBMP News and Updates

Terrestrial Expert Monitoring Background Paper

CBMP Terrestrial ─ Current Status

New CBMP/CAFF Report - Background Paper of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme's Terrestrial Expert Monitoring Group.

  

The United States and Greenland/Denmark agreed in 2010 to act as lead countries for the initial development of the Terrestrial Expert Monitoring Group (TEMG) of the CBMP. In the summer of 2011, all Arctic Council countries appointed members to the TEMG. The TEMG's purpose is to ensure better coordination between existing terrestrial biodiversity monitoring initiatives and networks and more efficient and effective synthesis and delivery of the results of this monitoring to decision-makers, stakeholders and the general public.

 

Prior to the first TEMG workshop in Hvalsø, Denmark, the group drafted an Arctic Terrestrial Monitoring background paper. The Terrestrial Expert Monitoring Group´s Background Paper has been finalized and is published under the CAFF Monitoring Series. The Background paper provides an overview of the development of the monitoring and implementation plan and is produced with assistance from a number of experts in various countries.

Members of the Terrestrial Expert Monitoring Group at their October meeting

 

Two further workshops are planned for 2012 

where experts from each of the Arctic countries will use the background paper and the results from the first workshop in October 2011 to discuss the critical elements of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring Plan and reach agreement on the priority parameters, key ecosystem components to monitor and sampling approaches to be employed across Arctic terrestrial ecosystems. The final Arctic Terrestrial Monitoring Plan will be a key element of the CBMP.

 

The plan will is scheduled to be approved by the CAFF Board prior to the Arctic Ministers meeting in Arctic Council in 2013.

 

For more information, contact Tom Christensen (DK) and/or John Payne (USA), Co-leads of TEMG 

Arctic Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Plan

The Marine Expert Monitoring Group released the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Plan in April 2011. It is the first CBMP expert monitoring group to release their integrated plan.

 

The Plan integrates existing marine biodiversity monitoring efforts from across the Arctic and represents an agreement between six Arctic coastal nations and many national, regional, Indigenous and academic organizations and agencies.

 

In September 2011 an implementation workshop established the Marine Steering Group (MSG) and seven Marine Expert Networks to assist in Plan implementation. Implementation of the Plan is now underway with workplans established for the MSG and the Marine Expert Networks.

 

Arctic Freshwater Biodiversity Monitoring Plan Framework Document

CBMP Freshwater ─ Current Status 

In March 2011, the Freshwater Ecosystem Monitoring Group completed its framework document. The latest writing workshop was held in October 2011 in Fredericton, Canada.

Read the new Development of an Arctic Freshwater Biodiversity Monitoring Plan- Framework Document. A final Arctic Freshwater Monitoring Plan is scheduled for early 2013.

CBMP Arctic Protected Areas

Protected Areas Workshop Report

In addition to the Expert Monitoring Groups, the CBMP is also exploring, with representatives from various agencies responsible for national and regional Arctic protected area management, the formation of a Protected Areas Monitoring Network. This initiative is intended to enable coordinated reporting of biodiversity in Arctic protected areas using the CBMP monitoring plans as a basis and to provide a circumpolar understanding of change occurring within protected areas around the Arctic region. 

The  Circumpolar Protected Areas Monitoring Workshop Report from the Girdwood, Alaska meeting is now available. 

Arctic Protected Areas Scheme Background Paper

In addition, CBMP experts have developed the new Arctic Protected Areas Monitoring Scheme Background Paper. The paper:

* Summarizes the background and context for a Arctic Protected Areas Monitoring Scheme (APAMS)

* Describes current biodiversity monitoring programs of Arctic Council member states;

* Reviews the role of protected areas in existing biodiversity monitoring programs;

* Identifies differences between European and North American approaches;

* Outlines challenges and opportunities for an Arctic Protected Areas Monitoring Scheme

* Summarizes current and projected issues facing protected areas;

* Proposes an approach for integrating circumpolar protected areas monitoring;

* Outlines factors that should be considered for the development of an Arctic Protected Areas Monitoring Scheme

CBMP and CAFF contribute to the UN CBD SBSTTA

The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) - of which the CBMP is a cornerstone program - gave a statement and hosted a side event about Arctic biodiversity at the 15th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity´s (CBD) Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) November 7-11, 2011 in Montreal, Canada, 

Through COP Decision X/13, CAFF was invited to provide a report on Arctic biodiversity to the SBSTTA and provide a statement (available in the Report of Working Group II) during the proceedings. Many interventions were provided by many Arctic and non-Arctic countries, and resulted in a suite of draft recommendations which can be accessed in the SBSTTA 15 in-session documents of Working Group II.)

Read the CAFF Executive Secretary´s guest article to the international biodiversity reporting service "Biodiversity Policy and Practice".

It's Official! CBMP Becomes the Arctic 'BON' of the Global Earth Observation's Biodiversity Observation Network

Over the past three years, the CBMP has been assisting the development of the Global Earth Observation's Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO-BON) initiative. With a very similar organizational structure, the CBMP's work was well aligned to contribute to a broader global effort to harmonize biodiversity observing and reporting. 

Recognizing the progress that the CBMP has made over the past several years at developing and implementing a coordinated biodiversity monitoring and reporting system, the GEO-BON Steering Committee has recently designated the CBMP as the Arctic 'BON' as part of the broader global network. Learn more about GEO-BON.

Development of a Pan-Arctic Monitoring Plan for Polar Bears

Polar Bear Monitoring Plan

CAFF´s CBMP facilitated the development of a draft Polar Bear Monitoring Plan as a contribution to the 1973 Agreement on Polar Bears. The Polar Bear Specialist Group is set to publish the Plan. Read the Development of a Pan-Arctic Monitoring Plan for Polar Bears that informed the Plan´s development.  

Partner News

International Arctic Vegetation Database: CAFF Flora Expert Group 

IAVD Concept Paper

An International Arctic Vegetation Database (IAVD) is needed for Arctic vegetation research, nature conservation, education, policy making and as a foundation for panarctic biodiversity studies. A new CAFF Strategy Series Report: An International Arctic Vegetation Database, a foundation for pan-arctic biodiversity studies presents a conceptual framework for the database. 

The IAVD will be based on the recently completed CAFF-sponsored Pan-arctic Flora of vascular plants, the CAFF lichen list and a new species list for arctic mosses. The database and its products will be available on the Internet through the CBMP Data Portal.

Oxyria digyna, Photo: Ina Timing

Analysis of this database will produce 

• lists of Arctic plant communities, 
• maps of species distribution, and 
• detect data gaps. 

A project of the CAFF Flora Group, the IAVD will help CAFF address its mandate to promote and disseminate information on biodiversity. Additional motivations for the IAVD include the need to harmonize North American and European approaches to vegetation classification, and for archiving legacy vegetation data sets that are in danger of being lost. 

The project will be launched at a workshop tentatively planned for May 2012 in Roskilde, Denmark, where the participants will review the status of Arctic vegetation data in each Arctic country and further develop strategies for funding and completing the project. Members of the project are now soliciting funds from international agencies. 

Read the concept paper An International Arctic Vegetation Database .

For more information contact: D.A. Walker  or M.K. Raynolds  

CARMA´s Climate Database Updated with 2010 Data

Caribou, Photo: USFWS

The CircumArctic Rangifer Monitoring and Assessment (CARMA) Network has added 2010 data to its extensive climate database. The database covers 1979-2010 and is derived from NASA’s Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) dataset.

For 22 herds of migratory tundra Rangifer, CARMA generated seasonal distributions (calving, summer, fall, winter, spring) and downloaded all climate variables that have relevance to Rangifer ecology. Some of the variables had to be derived from the core MERRA variables. For example, the database accumulates icing, rain-on-snow, and freeze/thaw events, as well as mosquito and Oestrid indices. Because the same climate dataset is available for the entire Arctic, we are able to directly compare habitat conditions for all the herds. The dataset has been distributed to many CARMA collaborators and is being used to compare herds, assess decadal trends, link to global oscillations and examine role of habitat in herd productivity. CARMA plans to continue to annually update the dataset as on-line MERRA data becomes available.

 For more information: Email CARMA 

Trends in Migratory Tundra Caribou and Wild Reindeer- CARMA

Monitoring abundance of migratory tundra caribou and wild reindeer depends on counting caribou from an aircraft or from photos taken from an aircraft flying over post calving aggregations or over the calving ground. Typically, after a survey, results are not available for up to a year. Since 2010, six of 23 herds have been counted with three increases and three declines in the trend of herd sizes. 

In Greenland, the Kangerlussuaq-Sisimiut increased to 98,000 and the Akia-Maniitsoq herd declined to 31,000.  In northern Canada, the Bluenose-East herd increased between 2006 and 2010 to 99,000; the George River Herd sharply declined to 74,000 while the 2011 count of the Leaf River Herd is incomplete although a decline is expected. The Porcupine herd shared between Alaska and Canada has started to recover and had increased to 169,000 based on the 2010 census. 

Other indicators for migratory tundra caribou and wild reindeer are tracking calf survival, sex ratio, pregnancy rates, movements, and body condition although the frequency and numbers of indicators vary considerably between herds. 

In summary, since their most recent census, four herds are continuing to increase, two herds are starting to recover from declines, nine herds are declining and no trend was detected for five herds.

Reindeer, Kautokeino, Norway, Photo: Lawrence Hislop

• Teshepuk Lake 2008
• Porcupine 2010
• Central Arctic 2008
• Bluenose East 2010
• Kangerlussuaq 2010
• Lena-Olenuk 2009

• Leaf 2001
• Qaminuriaq 2009
• Cape Bathurst 2009

  Caribou antlers in snow, Photo: USFWS

• Bluenose West 2009
• Taimyr 2000

• Bathurst 2009
• George 2010
• Akia 2010
• Beverly 2010
• Ahiak 2010
• S´hampton 2009
• Yana-Indigirka 2004
• Chukotka 2009

  For more information: Email CARMA

Arctic Birds Breeding Conditions Survey Update

Red Knot banding, Photo: Peter Prokosch

The Arctic Birds Breeding Conditions Survey (ABBCS) is a project run by the International Wader Study Group and it collects data on weather, abundance of rodents and predators, as well as productivity and abundance of shorebirds and other birds of the Arctic. The survey database, housed at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, accumulated information for a period of over two decades, although geographical coverage of the circumpolar region is highly variable between years.

Issue # 12 of the survey bulletin, "Arctic Birds", was recently published to the Arctic Birds website (available in Russian). The collection and editing data on breeding conditions in the 2011 field season is currently on the go.

A potential of ABBCS as an effective analytical tool for explaining flyway-wide trends in bird populations was recently demonstrated in a study by E. Rakhimberdiev with colleagues. A use of continent-wide qualitative ABBCS data on the abundance of the Ruff Philomachus pugnax on the breeding grounds led to a hypothesis of a global population redistribution in this migrant shorebird. This approach is pending testing on other species of Arctic-breeding birds, and cooperation with other networks that monitor Arctic biodiversity can become instrumental for obtaining spatial and temporal resolution required for this kind of assessment.