Arctic Council Repository

The Ottawa Declaration of 1996 formally established the Arctic Council as a high level intergovernmental forum to provide a means for promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, with the involvement of the Arctic Indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.

This repository holds reports and assessments produced by the Arctic Council.

Recent Submissions

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    CAFF Arctic Pollinator Monitoring Workshop Biographic Information
    (CAFF, 2022-02) CAFF
    The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme published the State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Report (START) in May 2021. The START assessed the status and trends of terrestrial Focal Ecosystem Components (FECs)—including vegetation, arthropods, birds, and mammals—across the Arctic and identified monitoring gaps and recommendations. There is currently a large gap in our knowledge and understanding of the arthropod fauna of the Arctic, and for large areas of the Arctic little is known about pollinators. An Arctic Pollinator Expert Network is needed to share information and increase coordination on pollinator monitoring and to implement START monitoring recommendations. On 22 February 2022, there was a CAFF Arctic Pollinator Monitoring Virtual Workshop. Workshop objectives included: 1) improved understanding of current and future Arctic pollinator monitoring efforts, 2) increased awareness, support, and implementation of START monitoring recommendations for pollinators, and 3) strengthened relationships. This document is a list of biographic information from many of the workshop participants.
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    Arctic Pollinator Monitoring Workshop Report.
    (CAFF, 2022-02) Burns, M.L.; Burns, C. T.; Oberndorfer, E.; Rykken, J.J.; MacNearney, D.
    In February 2022, the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) hosted the Arctic Pollinator Monitoring Virtual Workshop. The 62 participants included attendees from 10 countries, Indigenous organizations, and presenters from eight Arctic Nations (Appendix A). For the first time, Arctic pollinator experts and monitoring agencies met to communicate existing and upcoming Arctic pollinator research, identify knowledge gaps, and build new partnerships, with a goal of coordinating monitoring efforts to inform effective conservation strategies across the Arctic. Identified research and monitoring needs included developing shared inventory and monitoring protocols, centralizing data storage and sharing, broadening the geographic scope of pollinator sampling across the Arctic, increasing taxonomic support through traditional and new approaches, working in partnership with Arctic Indigenous Knowledge holders and Arctic communities, and securing long-term funding to support Arctic pollinator monitoring. This report summarizes and synthesizes the knowledge shared during the Arctic Pollinator Monitoring Virtual Workshop, and makes recommendations for developing coordinated pollinator monitoring across the Arctic. These recommendations include summarizing existing literature and monitoring programs, developing a collaborative monitoring framework, partnering with Arctic Indigenous Peoples and Arctic residents, and supporting emerging monitoring technologies. This report is based on the expertise, knowledge and perspectives of workshop attendees shared during the workshop and may not represent the views of their national governments
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    Observer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
    (2024-02-22)
    These FAQs were developed by the USA, Poland, South Korea, and the Northern Forum as co-leads of the PAME project titled “A Framework for More Systematically Engaging with Observers on Shipping Related Matters." These FAQs were formally approved by PAME Heads of Delegation via the SAOprescribed written decision procedure in February 2024.
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    Types of ships in the Arctic
    (2024-02-13)
    This report describes the types of ships operating in the Arctic. The data comes from the Arctic Ship Traffic Data (ASTD) and reviews the number of ships in the Arctic, broken down by category. Each category is briefly described with case studies included.
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    Low Sulphur Fuels in the Arctic
    (2024-01-25)
    The Maritime Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) under the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted specific requirements as to the maximum sulphur content of any fuel oil intended for combustion purposes for propulsion or operation on board a ship. According to Regulation 14 of Annex VI of MARPOL the global sulphur limit was reduced from 3.50% to 0.50% from first of January 2020. For vessels operating in Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECA) under MARPOL, the limit, has been 0.10%, since first of January 2015. As a result of the regulatory developments, the industry responded by offering Low Sulphur Fuels Oil (LSFO – 0.50%) and ULSFO (Ultra Low Sulphur Fuel Oil – 0.10%) for ships that previously used different residual fuel oil blends as fuel, including Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO). These developments also led to the joint PAME-EPPR project “New Low Sulphur Fuels, Fate, and Behavior in Cold Water Conditions” which was included in both PAME’s and EPPR’s Work Plans for 2021-2023. The project is led by Norway and contains five work packages (WPs): WP1. Questionnaire WP2. Industry Involvement Workshop WP3. Fuel oil sampling WP4. Fate and behavior WP5. Toxicity testing This is the first report from this project and derives from WP1. A final report for the project will be produced. Experts from Canada, Kingdom of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, USA, China, Germany, Korea, Singapore and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) have participated in the project. Additionally, experts from industry have also participated as consultants, including from DNV and SINTEF in Norway.

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