Arctic Biodiversity Climate Environmental Change Impact on biodiversity Research focus Impediments Public engagement Dr. Mark Graham, Director, Research.

Arctic BiodiversityClimateEnvironmental Change

• Impact on biodiversity• Research focus• Impediments• Public engagement

Dr. Mark Graham, Director, Research Services [email protected] 613-566-4743

IYB

Impact on Biodiversity

• Wide range of uncertainty in the models about the extent of warming – half predict sea ice absence by 2080

• Sea ice and multiyear ice extent is declining rapidly – has an impact on all aspects of biological diversity, including ice algae

• Disappearing ice impacts ice adapted whales (beluga, narwhal, bowhead) and allows others to move in

• Traditional knowledge leaders have seen new species and have had more accidents with thinning sea ice

• Mercury is prevalent in the Arctic environment and in food species; more open water in the ocean and lakes increases tissue levels

• Marine biodiversity hotspots are emerging and being studied

• The Arctic is greening – e.g. tree-lines are marching north

• Permafrost melting and more precipitation cause water quality issues

Impact on Biodiversity

Research Focus

• Maintain independent, ongoing research in the North

• Better understanding air circulation – transfer of heat and contaminants

• Refine climate models of large-scale physical elements – sea ice

• Inclusion of traditional knowledge in research

• Understand the effect of contaminants on country foods

Research Focus

• Finding conservation management actions that include the new invasive species

• Incorporate technological innovations into biodiversity research – DNA barcoding, remote sensing and biodiversity informatics

• Find effective mechanisms to share biodiversity data freely and broadly

• Collaborative scientific approaches considering ecozones

• Get young HQPs involved in Arctic research

Impediments

• Traditional knowledge leaders and western scientists need mechanisms to interact

• No organized system for data sharing

• Information is lacking yet essential for economic, social and environmental awareness and decision making – meteorological, biodiversity, contaminants, social

• No program of full-scale, long - term discovery and monitoring of biodiversity

• Field stations and other infrastructure – access and on-going field-based research in the Arctic

• Funding is always an issue for nearly everything

Impediments

Public Engagement

• The Arctic is important and is under global influences

• Climate change is the single biggest social issue ever

• There is a human component to climate change in the Arctic – air temperature and precipitation

• The Arctic is warming more than other parts of the northern hemisphere – amplification from open ocean

Public Engagement

• Traditional uses of Arctic biodiversity are ongoing and important – essential to healthy communities

• There is a Nunavut Biosciences Corporation – e.g. products from seaweed, shrimps and medicinal plants

• Arctic developments should be based on environmental, social, traditional, and economic knowledge – sustainability of biodiversity resources

• The Arctic marine food web is dependent upon a rich diversity of phytoplankton (microscopic plants)

• Traditional use of marine mammals is sustainable over long periods and commercial whaling is not

• The last bits of sea ice will occur in Canada as well as all ice-adapted marine mammals

Other Observations

• Increased awareness about the Arctic – important & timely

• There are tremendous intangible value in the Arctic from the landscape and biodiversity

• International cooperation is necessary to address climate change issues in the Arctic – the Arctic Council as a possible mechanism

• National parks and reserves are good – located in areas predicted for the most rapid environmental changes

• There aren’t enough parks to conserve biological resources in the Arctic, considering the changes that are indicated

Other Observations

• Intensity of competition for Arctic resources will increase – China has more capacity to work in the Arctic than any other nation

• Huge infrastructure investments needed in the north to be competitive and keep pace with global developments

• Climate warming is real, adaptation by humans in the Arctic will be important – food, buildings, roads.

• Adaptations and mitigations need to occur in response to climate changes with a mechanism that allows for balance sustainability.

Questions ?

Dr. Mark Graham, Director, Research Services [email protected] 613-566-4743