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
Item Radiological/Nuclear Risk Assessment in the Arctic Full Technical Report(Arctic Council Secretariat, 2021-05)The purpose of this report is to provide Arctic States, indigenous peoples and interested readers a summary of radioactive/nuclear materials and activities that may impact the Arctic within the next 10 years, and the risk associated with these potential emergency initiating scenarios. This report provides a description of the initiating scenarios and, where possible, gives example incidents/ accidents for illustrative purposes. To determine the risks for each initiating scenario, a qualitative assessment was conducted using a common questionnaire and telephone interviews with members of the Radiation Experts Group (an expert group of the Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group). A risk matrix was created for each of the 11 example events (likelihood vs. consequences), and a risk was assigned to each based on those results (low risk, moderate risk, high risk or extreme risk).Item Shorebirds ingest plastics too(CAFF, 2022)This research summary present what we know, what we don’t know, and what we should do next about shorebirds ingesting plastics. Only 12% of the world’s shorebird species have been examined for plastics ingestion. Over half of those species contained some form of plastic. Shorebirds are long-distance migrants that move between some of the cleanest and most polluted habitats on Earth during their annual cycle. With global concern over declining trends in many shorebird populations, evaluating threats to shorebird species and their habitats is a first step towards developing plans for conservation. This is well underway for many threats, such as habitat loss, harvest, and climate change, but relatively little attention has been given to the threat of plastics pollution on shorebird populations. There is evidence that flyway geography, foraging habitat, and foraging mode may affect the susceptibility of a shorebird to ingesting plastics. Researchers are encouraged to consider adding plastics pollution evaluation protocols to their programs to help improve our knowledge on this potential threat. This work was conducted under the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) and International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) Fellowship as a contribution to the Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative (AMBI), Americas Flyway 2019-2025 Action 5.2 to “promote studies that assess the prevalence and impacts of plastic contamination in shorebird populations in the Arctic”.Item CBMP-Terrestrial North American Scoping Workshop Ottawa, Canada 14-16 January 2025(2026-05-01)This workshop report is intended to summarize the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program’s North American Terrestrial Scoping Workshop, which was conducted in Ottawa, Canada, January 14-16, 2025. The workshop was the second of 3 planned workshops which jointly will lead to the development of a new CBMP Terrestrial Implementation Plan.Item CBMP Terrestrial Nordic Scoping Workshop- Copenhagen, Denmark 20-22 November 2024(2025-05-01)This workshop report is intended to summarize the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program’s (CBMP) Nordic Terrestrial Scoping Workshop, which was conducted in Copenhagen Denmark November 20-22, 2024. The Nordic workshop was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and is the first of 3 workshops which jointly will lead to the development of a CBMP Terrestrial Implementation Plan.Item Murres in a Changing North Atlantic: Building Shared Understanding for Sustainable Harvest and Conservation Workshop(0020-05-26)Short summary report from the January 28-29, 2029 "Murres in a Changing North Atlantic: Building Shared Understanding for Sustainable Harvest and Conservation Workshop” in Reykjavik, Iceland. The report is a brief overview of the workshop intended for participants and other interested stakeholders and rights holders.
Communities in Arctic Council Archive
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