Last updated: May 20, 2021
Article
12th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting
Photo courtesy of Garry Donaldson
The foreign ministers of the Arctic Council and the representative of Arctic Indigenous Peoples met in Reykjavik, Iceland on May 20, 2021 for the 12th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting. Arctic States were joined by delegations Observer states and organizations as well as representatives from Arctic Council Working Groups and other Subsidiary Bodies. Foreign Ministers of the Arctic States and Heads of Delegation of the Permanent Participants reviewed activities and accomplishments to improve sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic completed under Iceland's two-year chairmanship. At this meeting, Ministers signed the 2021 Reykjavik Declaration, approved the working group work plans for the next two-year period, adopted a first-ever strategic plan for the Arctic Council to guide our work through 2030, and approved the Senior Arctic Official's Report to Ministers.
With the conclusion of this meeting, the Arctic Council Chairmanship now moves from Iceland to Russia and the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group Chairmanship turns from Sweden to Finland for the next two-year period.
Some Key Products
State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Report
Arctic plants, insects, birds and land mammals are experiencing wide ranging and diverse effects from climate change. The timing of key life events, changing habitats, and the introduction of new predators and potentially new diseases are among the impacts described in a new report based on long-term biodiversity monitoring from around the Arctic.
Changing frequency, intensity and timing of extreme weather events such as winter rain and thaws make it hard for some species such as lemmings and caribou/reindeer to access food. Increased frequency of heavy rain events, and warm temperatures causing massive blackfly outbreaks, have killed Arctic peregrine falcon chicks. Species from southern ecosystems, such as red fox, moose, and voles are moving into the Arctic, and are expected to push Arctic species northwards, creating an “Arctic squeeze.” These changes cascade through the ecosystem and may affect services that nature provides for people, such as pollination, nutrient cycling and food. Changes in culturally important food resources have implications on the food security and cultures of Indigenous Peoples and Arctic residents.
The State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Report provides the most comprehensive circumpolar synthesis to date about biodiversity on Arctic lands. Dozens of experts from across the Arctic produced the report under the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP), the cornerstone program of the Arctic Council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group.
Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands
A new circumpolar report outlines 20 recommendations to protect and sustain Arctic wetlands--globally important wildlife habitats that store massive amounts of carbon and provide vital ecosystem services and are increasingly at risk from climate change and human disturbance.
The report says climate-driven permafrost thaw and increased drought conditions impacting Arctic wetland ecosystems will cause greater fire occurrences and shifts in hydrological flows. Sea level change and decline is increasing coastal erosion. Thawing permafrost is projected to transform peatlands from a net sink of greenhouse gases to a net source lasting for several centuries. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to limit these impacts, the report says, along with increased conservation and restoration activities, streamlined governance, better knowledge use, additional classification, mapping and monitoring and coordinated action.
Almost half the world’s wetlands are in the Arctic, where they make up as much as 60% of all Arctic ecosystems. Although most Arctic wetlands currently remain relatively intact, these crucial ecosystems are changing due to climate-change and growing pressures from increased human presence.
The report, The Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands, is designed to maintain and strengthen the resilience of Arctic wetlands and showcase that effective management of wetlands, including conservation and restoration efforts, holds enormous potential to contribute significantly to climate adaptation and mitigation, and conservation. Many of these findings and recommendations are highly relevant both within and outside the Arctic, and Arctic States can act as role models for sustainable use of wetlands.
Information Briefs on Marine Protected Areas
The Information Brief on Marine Protected Areas in a Changing Arctic summarizes how climate change affects the Arctic marine environment, from ecosystem and habitat impacts to driving changes in human activities, and highlights marine protected areas as a tool for Arctic resilience.
The Information Brief on Indigenous Food Security in the Arctic - Implications of a Changing Ocean focuses on how climate change affects Arctic Indigenous food systems, in particular resources, culture, and health tied to marine environments, and highlights examples of adaptive responses in ocean management.