1. SAO Meeting, 12 - 13 November, 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item 8.1 Maximizing the Legacy of IPY. (PRESENTATION SPEAKING NOTES).(Arctic Council Secretariat, 2009) Arctic CouncilPresentation speaking notes for point 8.1 Maximizing the Legacy of the IPY at the Arctic Council's Senior Arctic Officials meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, November 12-13 2009.Item Letter to SAO Chair from Nordic Mapping Agencies(Arctic Council Secretariat, 2009) National Land Survey of Finland; National Survey and Cadastre, Denmark; National Spatial Planning of Greenland; National Land Survey, Iceland; Norwegian Mapping Authority; National Land Survey, SwedenLetter from Nordic Mapping Agencies to Arctic Council SAO Chair Karsten Klepsvik with formal proposals and suggestions regarding the Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI), GIT Barents, the Arctic SDI, and more.Item Circumpolar Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Plan. Background paper.(CAFF International Secretariat, 2009-12) Vongraven, D.; Arneberg, P.; Bysveen, I.; Crane, K.; Denisenko, N.V.; Gill, M.; Gofman, V.; Grant-Friedman, A.; Gudmundsson, G.; Hindrum, R.; Hopcroft, R.; Iken, K.; Labansen, A.; Liubina, O.S.; Moore, S.E.; Melnikov, I.A.; Reist, J.D.; Stow, J.; Tchernova, J.; Ugarte, F.; Watkins, J.; Gill, Mike; Barry, Tom"The Arctic hosts unique assemblages of organisms. The size and nature of Arctic ecosystems make them of critical importance to the biological, chemical and physical balance of the globe. Dramatic climate-related changes now underway are threatening the resiliency and sustainability of the Arctic’s biodiversity and the overall balance of its ecosystems. Continued rapid change in the Arctic will have global repercussions affecting the planet’s ecosystems and biodiversity as a whole. 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 sea. Current Arctic biodiversity monitoring efforts are insufficient to provide an integrated picture of the status of and trends in key species, habitats, processes, and services. Better coordination of our existing monitoring networks is urgently needed to help improve our ability to detect important trends on a timely basis, attribute these trends to their underlying causes, and provide this information to decision makers to facilitate effective and timely responses. In response to the challenges facing the Arctic and our current monitoring capacity, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment recommended that long-term Arctic biodiversity monitoring be expanded and enhanced. The Arctic Council Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group’s (CAFF) primary response to this recommendation has been the implementation of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP). The CBMP is working with scientists and local resource users from around the Arctic to harmonize and enhance long-term Arctic biodiversity monitoring efforts in order to facilitate more rapid detection, understanding, communication and response to significant trends and pressures. The Arctic’s size and complexity represents a significant challenge to detecting and attributing important biodiversity trends. This situation demands an integrated, pan-Arctic, ecosystem-based approach that not only identifies trends in biodiversity, but also the underlying causes. It is critical that this information be made widely available to those responsible for generating effective strategies for adapting to ongoing changes now taking place in the Arctic - a process that ultimately depends on rigorous, integrated, and efficient monitoring programs that have the power to detect change within a time frame of a few years to decades. Towards this end, the CBMP is facilitating an integrated, ecosystem-based approach to monitoring through the development of five Expert Monitoring Groups representing major Arctic themes (Marine, Coastal, Freshwater, Terrestrial Vegetation & Terrestrial Fauna). Each group functions as a forum for scientists, community experts and managers to promote, share, and coordinate research and monitoring activities and utilize existing data to faciliate improved and cost-effective monitoring that has a greater ability to detect and understand significant trends in Arctic biodiversity." /.../Item SDI Principles implemented in the Barents Euro Arctic Region - the obvious basis for building an Arctic SDI -.(GIT Barents; Kolarctic, 2008) Palmér, Owe"In August 2007 the First International Circumpolar Conference on Geospatial Sciences and Applications / IPY GeoNorth held in Yellowknife, Canada, presented the idea of creating Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI), which would make it possible to share geospatial data in support of sustainable development of Arctic communities, regions and nations. The Yellowknife Conference participants agreed that the proposed ASDI would provide a unique and effective infrastructure for the sharing of geospatial data, information, knowledge and best practices between all stakeholders in the Arctic region. Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia have had a joint project “GIT Barents” (Geographic Information Technology within the Barents Region), which has been going on since 1994 and finalised in April 2008 with the EC funding. This project was presented at the above mentioned conference under the title SDI Principles implemented in the Barents Euro Arctic Region. The project has produced homogenous & uniform geographic information within the Barents region. In addition to that, this project also developed and implemented internet-based technology for effective access and distribution of geographic information within the region – the Barents SDI." /.../Item ArcticData. ACCESSIBILITY TO ARCTIC COUNCIL DATA.(Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF); Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME), 2009) Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF); Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME)"The CAFF and PAME Secretariats have been discussing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Working Groups within the Arctic Council as a result of recent assessments that have created extensive datasets e.g. the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment and the Oil & Gas Assessment. Information once collected and incorporated within Working Group assessments and reports have faced a number of challenges: 1. It remains difficult to find - while each Working Group has a website and archive these are independent of each other and there is no one site where data collected by Working Groups (not just contact details or activities) can be accessed in an organized and integrated manner. 2. It is difficult to access - while huge efforts go into collecting and amassing data for Working Groups projects it remains difficult to access in a format and manner which allows data to be easily useable and transferable. Data is tied into PDF reports and the hard data behind graphs, maps etc is not easily accessible, in particular those that are not protected by copyright. Thus data from the Arctic Council remains under-used and the ability to allow the public, scientific community and the academia to access and benefit from this wealth of data is currently limited." /.../