This week’s release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on the need to keep global average temperature increase below 1.5°C is an ideal backdrop for the 2nd Arctic Biodiversity Congress now underway in Rovaniemi, Finland.
The IPCC report identifies a number of “Reasons for Concern” including threats to “ecological and human systems that have restricted geographic ranges constrained by climate related conditions and have high endemism or other distinctive properties. Examples include coral reefs, the Arctic and its indigenous people, mountain glaciers, and biodiversity hotspots.”
The 1.5°C figure is considered a “guardrail” beyond which global climate change may threaten our ability to adapt.
Five years ago, the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment reported that climate change is the most serious threat to Arctic biodiversity and increases pressure from all other threats. The reality is that the Arctic has already warmed by at least three degrees.
Both reports provide a context for the meeting in Rovaniemi, which lies north of the Arctic Circle.
The Arctic Biodiversity Congress is organized by the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), one of the Arctic Council working groups, and the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. Its goal is to allow discussions between key stakeholders working on the conservation of Arctic biodiversity -- scientists, Indigenous Peoples, governments officials, industry, students and civil society.
In his opening address to the Congress, Sauli Niinistö, President of the Republic of Finland, pointed out that the Arctic is not an isolated region disconnected to the rest of the globe. Speaking on the day that the IPCC report was released Niinistö said that headlines about climate change should not just be headlines, but should “stay firmly on the agenda for the foreseeable future.”
Among the many topics being discussed at the congress is the effect of reduced ice cover in the Arctic marine environment. One of the speakers was Peter Harris, GRID-Arendal’s Managing Director, who talked about the effects of the continuing loss of Arctic sea ice. This decline is leading to increasing interest in the un-tapped oil, gas and fisheries resources that were previously concealed beneath the ice surface, Harris said.
He pointed out that existing marine protected areas cover only about 2.5 per cent of the Arctic Ocean sea ice zone and offer little or no protection to many habitats and deep seafloor features that coincide with areas likely to be of interest to industry.
GRID-Arendal’s Levi Westerveld and Kathrine Johnson took part in a joint CAFF and Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) session on cumulative effects on Arctic biodiversity and livelihoods. The discussion was chaired by the Saami Council and GRID-Arendal and was prepared as part of a Nomadic Herders’ project looking at how reindeer herding societies are being affected changes in biodiversity.
Westerveld demonstrated new maps that showed alterations in vegetation cover, reindeer ranges, glaciers and snow cover change in a number of Arctic regions. Participants discussed how these visualizations, combined with scientific and traditional knowledge, could be used to address different needs for information, planning and communication.
The conference ends Friday.
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