SAON Task Report
Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program – Marine Plan
October 1-2, 2012
Arctic biodiversity is under growing pressure from both climate change and resource development, yet existing monitoring programs remain largely uncoordinated, limiting our ability to effectively monitor, understand and respond to biodiversity trends at the circumpolar scale. The maintenance of healthy Arctic ecosystems is a global imperative as the Arctic plays a critical role in the Earth’s physical, chemical and biological balance. Maintaining the health of Arctic ecosystems is also of fundamental economic, cultural and spiritual importance to Arctic residents, many of whom maintain close ties to the land and sea.
In March 2011, Senior Arctic Officials endorsed the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program – Marine Plan. It was subsequently presented to Arctic Council ministers at the Arctic Council MInisterial meeting held on May 2011 in Nuuk, Greenland, and implementation began in September 2011.
The overall goal of the CBMP-Marine Plan is to improve our ability to detect and understand the causes of long-term changes to the composition, structure and function of Arctic marine ecosystems, as well as to develop authoritative assessments of key elements of Arctic marine biodiversity (e.g., key indicators, ecologically pivotal and/or other important taxa).
A Marine Steering Group, chaired by Canada (DFO) overseesimplementation of the plan and the work is being undertaken by six Marine Expert Networks that cover the full trophic range – sea-ice biota, plankton, benthos, marine fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Participating Arctic Council countries are: Canada, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Russia and USA. The Inuit Circumpolar Council is also participating on the Marine Fish and Marine Mammal Expert Networks, and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) is a member of the Marine Steering Group.
During the first two years of implementation (2011-2013), the focus is on identifying, aggregating, and integrating pan-Arctic datasets, including QA/QC, and developing data sharing agreements among members of the Expert Networks (e.g., for sharing and using unpublished data). The majority of the Expert Networks are at this stage. The data generated through this activity will be served and accessible via the CBMP’s Arctic Biodiversity Data Service ( Already the ABDS has a number of marine biodiversity data layers accessible through this interoperable, web-based data system. Links are being established between the CBMP and the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) via an MOU that CAFF has with APECS regarding cooperation. Canada held an expert peer review meeting to evaluate which indicators would be of greatest value to the Arctic Marine Regions that fall within its borders. Links are also being established between the indicators and the CBD 2010 Aichi Targets through the CBMP’s membership on the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership.
The next step will involve testing indicators to assess which ones will be able to detect real change vis-à-vis natural variability, and distinguish signal from noise, all the while using existing data (i.e., there is no new data collection). The most promising indicators will be used to produce and report baselines and changes occurring across Arctic marine ecosystems. This will require integrating existing marine biodiversity monitoring effortsacross the Arctic, and using a suite of common biological parameters and indicators; key abiotic parameters relevant to marine biodiversity; optimal sampling schemes; and Arctic Marine Areas, according to which monitoring results will be organized and reported.