KNO12: Ideas for enhancing effective communication and outreach for subsistence based households in Western Alaska: what we learned from Alaskan native women

Date: Thursday October 11, 2018

Location: Erottaja, ELY

Time: 10:30-12:00

This session will explore the strategies that Alaskan Native women employ in response to climate change on their subsistence based households, the role of Traditional Knowledge in times of climate change, and what those women practicing a subsistence lifestyle would like scholars to know. Furthermore, the session broadens the topic to explore ways of knowing and how information is passed in Indigenous cultures via ceremony. The purpose of this session is to bring Alaska Native women more fully back into the discussions and conversations about monitoring and assessing Arctic biodiversity. This session will provide an opportunity for understanding women’s concerns about Arctic biodiversity with the hope that conversations could shift to ask what works in terms of communication and outreach for these women and their households, rather than asking how do we get women to respond to external outreach and communication tools and methodologies.

Chairs: Elizabeth Kersey, The Alaska Climate Resiliency Project; Nastasia Levi, The Alaska Climate Resiliency Project

Format: Series of presentations followed by discussion

• Ideas for enhancing effective communication and outreach for subsistence based households in Western Alaska: what we learned from Alaskan native women: Elizabeth Kersey and Nastasia Levi, The Alaska Climate Resiliency Project

Abstracts:

Ideas for enhancing effective communication and outreach for subsistence based households in Western Alaska: what we learned from Alaskan native women

Elizabeth Kersey and Nastasia Levi, The Alaska Climate Resiliency Project

The purpose of our presentation is to bring Alaska Native women--who practice a subsistence lifestyle—more fully back into the discussions and conversations about monitoring and assessing Arctic biodiversity. We do this by sharing what we learned by interviewing several women (between 5-10 women) from Western Alaska subsistence based communities. We had three areas of interest in our interviews: the impact of climate change on subsistence practices; the role of traditional knowledge in times of climate change; and what they would like scientists who study Arctic biodiversity to know from their perspective. By hearing from these women--who have to live by climate change consequences--a broader, more expansive and enriched set of communication and outreach tools and methodologies can be created. Further, this presentation will provide an opportunity for understanding these women’s concerns about Arctic biodiversity, with the hope that for this presentation, conversations could shift, positionally. That is, to shift, to asking what works in terms of communication and outreach for these women and their households, rather than asking how do we get women to respond to outreach and communication tools and methodologies? Our focus in this presentation is for these women, their responses and their words to inform what is shared. We conclude by initiating a discussion with those in attendance about what this means when it comes to effective communication and outreach tools and methodologies.

KNO13: Technologies and techniques to advance biodiversity monitoring and modelling

Date: Wednesday October 10, 2018

Location: Erottaja, ELY

Time: 15:15-17:15

The unprecedented changes being experienced in the Arctic emphasize the importance and urgency of getting information to decision-makers in a timely manner. To do so requires easily accessible, comprehensive data, coordinated and consistent monitoring, up-to-date assessments of trends and informed responses. This session explores case studies in methodologies and technologies to help monitor and track changes in Arctic biodiversity and ecosystems.

Chairs: Catherine Coon, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)

Format: Series of presentations followed by discussion

• Leveraging drones to quantify the landscape-context of tundra biodiversity change: Jeffrey Kerby, Dartmouth College 
• Rapid decay of palsas monitored using RTK GPS, UAS data and aerial photographs: Timo Kumpula, University of Eastern Finland 
• Geomorphology matrix as a base of Arctic coastal zone monitoring in Global change dynamic: Dmitriy Dobrynin, Working Group on Anseriformes of Northern Eurasia 
• Animal energyscapes: A new dimension for arctic environmental spatial planning: David Grémillet, French National Center for Scientific Research - CNRS 
• Exploring Arctic ecosystem futures through biodiversity models and using these models for evaluation of global biodiversity models: Fiona Danks, UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre 
• Model evaluation by specialists – using Reindeer Movements for map quality assessment: Sven Adler, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences 

Abstracts:

Leveraging drones to quantify the landscape-context of tundra biodiversity change

Jeffrey Kerby, Dartmouth College; Isla Myers-Smith and the HiLDEN Network (arcticdrones.org)

Arctic monitoring efforts reflect the inherent tradeoffs between research priorities and logistical realities.  For decades, ecological research has combined plot- and satellite-informed datasets to yield critical insights about Arctic environmental change. However, often meso-scale observations from 10-1 – 102 km2 are missing. The rapid development and widespread accessibility of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (a.k.a. drones) offers promising solutions to some of the historical constraints Arctic biodiversity monitoring. Improved observations of the landscape context for ecological change will inform predictions of Arctic biodiversity, trophic food webs, carbon cycling and climate feedbacks. Biodiversity data syntheses have been instrumental in documenting widespread changes in plant cover, composition, and phenology throughout the Arctic in recent decades. These findings are commonly invoked to support hypotheses about the drivers of Arctic ‘greening’ (or ‘browning’) - biome-scale patterns of environmental change that have emerged from the remote sensing literature. Ongoing research linking ground- and satellite-based datasets and monitoring philosophies is revealing scale-dependent mismatches between metrics and patterns of vegetation responses. Spatial variability in landscape-level dynamics are increasingly understood to underpin these differences at site-specific scales. The High Latitude Drone Ecology Network (HiLDEN) was established to share common protocols across Arctic research sites to better facilitate meso-scale ecological research, while also providing a framework for building plot- to satellite-based research syntheses. The first summer of data collection in 2017 included participation from over a dozen tundra research teams spread across six Arctic nations. In 2018, we will extend this work to another two sites capturing landscape-level data for long-term ecological monitoring sites in the Yukon, Fennoscandia, on Ellesmere Island and Svalbard. Here, we report on the continued development of this network and present a multi-site analysis of tundra productivity (quantified with various metrics of ‘greenness’) and landscape heterogeneity within and across tundra systems. Our aim is to encourage spatially contextualizing existing and future biodiversity monitoring within their surrounding landscape, and thus to promote future synthesis and cross-scale understanding of vegetation change in the Arctic.

Rapid decay of palsas monitored using RTK GPS, UAS data and aerial photographs

Kumpula, T., M. Verdonen P. Korpelainen Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, University of Eastern Finland

Palsa is a form of discontinuous permafrost in the circumpolar zone. Palsa are peat mounts with a core of permanently frozen peat, ice and mineral soil. There are several studies which indicate that palsa’s are melting and decaying as a result of climatic warming. Finland. In two palsa’s high accuracy Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS measurements and active layer depth have been conducted 2007-2017. A measurement grid with two meter interval was defined over both palsa, (approximately 200 points). Measurements were carried out yearly in the end of August (2007-2017). Active layer depth of each point was measured with an active layer probe. With ArcGIS we created 3-D models of palsa and yearly active layer surfaces. Weather data used is from the Kilpisjärvi climate station allocated about 15 km north of the study sites (1951-2017). Both palsa’s has experienced significant decay especially along the edges. The palsa in Laassaniemi has large collapsing side towards a thermokarst pond, here the core has collapsed more than one meter during the study period. In the 1959 image there are no signs of a thermokarst pond. With detailed RTK GPS and active layer monitoring of palsa for 10 years we can follow accurately the development of palsa and its correlation to local climatic factors. We have gathered aerial photograph times series from 1960’s to present from 20 palsa mire basins in Enontekiö Lapland. Combining historical aerial photographs the time span of the study can be stretched up to 50-60 years. In some of the studied palsa mire basins more than 60% of the palsas have disappeared during the past 60 years. In 2015 we began to monitor changes in the palsas with UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) drones. Since 2016 we have 12 palsa mires under investigation with twice a year data collection (mid June and late August). From UAS -based remote sensing data we have noticed that palsa decay rate in all sites is surprisingly significant.

Geomorphology matrix as a base of Arctic coastal zone monitoring in global change dynamic

Dmitriy Dobrynin, Working Group on Anseriformes of Northern Eurasia; Mariya Dobrynina, Working Group on Anseriformes of Northern Eurasia

Coastal zone ecosystems are the result of terrestrial and marine factors superposition. Both of this groups are affected by Global Change influence. The sublatitudinal orientation of coastal zone in Eastern Europe and Asia increases the response of subshore ecosystem on global dynamic. All these aspects cause difficulties in monitoring arrangement. Choice of method sets and monitoring sites can be implemented on the base of satellite multispectral and radar image processing results. Images from space give us total information about coastal ecosystems structure and dynamic. By analysis of this data we select several groups of coastal landscapes the most sensitive to Global Change influence. They are: - thermokarst lowlands; - thermoabrasive seashores; - estuaries of the Arctic basin rivers; - accumulative shallow bottom formations; - sandbanks and sand bars The most obvious scenarios of ecosystem dynamics under the influence of Global Factors were estimated for each landscape type. Species and ecosystems belonging to the group of the most unstable and threatened were identified. Also the trends of changes in biotopes of most sensitive species are revealed on the base of series of temporary satellite images.

Animal energyscapes: A new dimension for Arctic environmental spatial planning

David Grémillet, French National Center for Scientific Research - CNRS; Jerome Fort, French National Center for Scientific Research - CNRS

Arctic landscape and seascape ecology are essential for a better understanding and forecasting of the impact of global changes on arctic biodiversity. This fusion of geography and ecology takes advantage of the geospatial revolution and the rapid development of global data acquisition and mapping tools. It allows displaying and analyzing the impact of environmental conditions upon the distribution and the movements of living organisms. This multi-layered, GIS-based approach integrates a wide range of gradients in geological, physical, chemical, and biological variables. Such forcing factors all act upon the energy balance (the ratio of energy intake to energy expenditure) of wild animals, which conditions their capacity to survive and reproduce, leading to their resilience. Animal energyspaces, defined as the spatial distribution of animal energy balance according to environmental conditions, therefore arises as a fundamental dimension in landscape and seascape ecology. This dimension has so far seldom been considered, by lack of appropriate methodologies to evaluate the energy expenditure of animals on the move. Recent developments of electronic tools, notably GPS and 3D motion recorders, now fill this gap, by providing both the position of animals, and estimations of their metabolic rates. Drawing from recent work on arctic birds and mammals, notably migratory seabirds, we will illustrate why, and how animal energyscapes can become a crucial aid to arctic environmental spatial planning. Specifically, we will draw from our long-term study of little auks (Alle alle), one of the most numerous arctic seabirds, to infer energyscapes and test migration theory. Overall, we will show how energyscapes can be used to evaluate the impact of climate change (vanishing cryosphere) upon arctic animals, to identify hotspots important for conservation and management at the species, community and ecosystem levels, and to define networks of protected areas and test connectivity issues. By integrating these many facets, animal energyscapes will allow evaluating cumulative environmental impacts (including those of pollutants), and mitigating their effects, thereby serving scenario planning for reduced risk.

Exploring Arctic ecosystem futures through biodiversity models and using these models for evaluation of global biodiversity models

Michael Harfoot, UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre; Fiona Danks, UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre

Arctic ecosystems, both terrestrial and marine, are amongst the most rapidly changing on the planet. On land, climate change is causing rapid vegetation shifts, both within species and by community turnover, and this process interacts with nutrient availability. Fauna is also likely change substantially. Arctic ecosystems therefore present a challenge for models of biodiversity because of the interaction of global change drivers. The pace of change also makes these system potentially excellent for evaluating model projections – testing how good we are at forecasting ecological futures. Here we present ideas for why we would apply some cutting edge models of biodiversity (e.g. Madingley General Ecosystem Model, PREDICTS model, LPJ-Guess dynamic vegetation model, HYBRID dynamic vegetation model) to Arctic ecosystems, in particular what they might tell us about Arctic ecosystem futures. We also present ideas for how Arctic ecosystems could be used to evaluate biodiversity models through targeted experiments where models make projections for ecosystem changes over a period of several years, and then observed changes are used to evaluate how accurate those model projections were. Applying biodiversity models to the region encourages vital collaboration among scientific, policy, NGO, academic and industry communities in advancing the understanding of key aspects of the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (with the hope of being able to advise and impact policy recommendations) and increases the visibility of Arctic biodiversity in global fora. Arctic biodiversity model development can aid in safeguarding biodiversity under changing conditions, in particular a rapidly changing climate. Predictive capacity, through advancing models as tools for understanding processes governing change in the Arctic, is improved, and efforts to reduce stressors and implement adaptive measures will be supported through such effort.

Model evaluation by specialists – using reindeer movements for map quality assessment

Henrik Hedenås, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Institutionen för skoglig resurshushållning, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83 UMEÅ, Per Sandström,Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Institutionen för skoglig resurshushållning, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83 UMEÅ, Anna Skarin, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Management, Ulls väg 26, 75007 Uppsala

Mapping of ecosystem services, e.g. tree biomass, is highly demanded as decision basis for e.g. green-infrastructure planning, sustainable management and multiple-use of the landscape. The quality of the maps depends on the model training data and model techniques used. For common phenomena national monitoring schemes like National Forest Inventories (NFI) are supposed to deliver good training data. However, national monitoring data may not function as training data when mapping more uncommon phenomena. Reindeer lichens (Cladonia ssp.) is a pivotal resource for reindeer husbandry through winter time as reindeer lichens is the major winter diet for reindeer. Thus, reindeer lichens can be interpreted as an ecosystem service for reindeer herders. Mapping lichen abundant forests have become quite important since reindeer lichens have decreased strongly over the last 50 years. Maps of important ecosystem services such as reindeer lichens are considered to facilitate communication between forestry, reindeer herders and the administration boards. As the area of lichen abundant forest is very small in comparison to the total forested area of Sweden, only few sample plots within the Swedish NFI describe areas with high values of lichen cover, more than 80% of all has a reindeer lichen abundance <1%. The resulting model based on topographical, satellite and Lidar data using Generalized Additive model technique underestimate the lichen coverage, explains a low proportion of the variance and has a very high cross validation error. According to standard model evaluation tools such kind of model would be discarded. Nevertheless, a map of reindeer lichens was anyhow produced based on the model. But, how usable is such a map? We used, in a first step, GPS positions from reindeer provided by the reindeer herding community Vilhelmina Norra to map the movement of the reindeer and to identify areas preferred by reindeer using Brownian Bridge Moving Models. In a second step, we compared the areas that were preferred and not preferred by reindeer according to the amount of lichen coverage according to the predicted map showing the predicted coverage of reindeer lichens. Surprisingly, the predicted coverage of lichens within the areas preferred by reindeer was significantly higher (p<0.01) compared to the areas not preferred by reindeer. This shows that even models with inadequate performance can provide useful and reliable maps and the information within national monitoring schemes enfold important information even for uncommon phenomena.

Efficient monitoring of Swedish sub-arctic habitats with the use of directed balanced sampling

Hans Gardfjell, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Sven Adler Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

With a changing climate and plausible alterations in land use it is likely we will see substantial environmental changes in the arctic region. That has increased the demand for accurate monitoring data on habitats and species. However, traditional random sampling designs are commonly only efficient in collecting data on the most common habitats and species. The distribution of habitats and vegetation types are highly skewed. Some few dominates whereas the majority of habitats only covers a minor part of the landscape. We will present a method using habitat models and directed balanced sampling to improve the efficiency of probability sampling.

KNO11: Community-based monitoring of Arctic biodiversity

Date: Thursday October 11, 2018

Location: Kero, Lappia Hall

Time: 8:30-10:00

Arctic inhabitants spend vast amounts of time on land and at sea. Drawing on personal experience, information shared with others, and knowledge handed down through generations, Arctic residents recognize subtle environmental changes and offer insights into their causes. They are community-based monitors by virtue of their day-to-day activities. In addition to their inherent community based monitoring (CBM) capacity, Arctic residents can employ standard scientific monitoring procedures in the practice of citizen science, thereby extending the reach and effectiveness of programs that rely on a limited number of trained scientists to carry out monitoring. Indigenous and other Arctic peoples wish to impart their environmental understanding to scientific discourse, not only because they have a great deal to offer, but also because this exchange represents an important step towards full participation in resource management activities. This session explores a series of case studies that highlight the value and important contributions that community-based monitoring can make to Arctic biodiversity conservation.

Chairs: Paul MacDonald, Canadian Wildlife Service; Bruce Wright, Aleut International Association

Format: Series of presentations followed by discussion

• Conversation biology: Community-based conservation of wildlife in Labrador through ongoing dialogue and sharing knowledge systems: Paul MacDonald, Canadian Wildlife Service
• Community-led monitoring and ecological restoration in the Arctic: history, power and resilience: Philippe Fayt and Simone Gress Hansen, Snowchange Cooperative
• The value of community-based monitoring to support green-infrastructure planning, sustainable resource use and multi-use of the landscape: Henrik Hedenås, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
• PISUNA - From community-based monitoring to management in Greenland: David Mitchell, IUCN
• Mainstreaming biodiversity through partnership: Arctic expedition cruise tourism and citizen science: Audrey Taylor, University of Alaska Anchorage 

Abstracts:

Conversation biology: Community-based conservation of wildlife in Labrador through ongoing dialogue and sharing knowledge systems

Paul MacDonald, Canadian Wildlife Service

Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) is Canada’s national wildlife agency, with core areas of responsibility including the protection and recovery of species at risk, and the conservation of migratory birds and their nationally important habitats. However, this responsibility is shared with provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments, and approaches to meeting these responsibilities vary across the country. In Labrador, a nearly 300,000 square kilometer region in north eastern Canada, CWS implements ongoing monitoring programs to track population trends. However, logistical considerations constrain the frequency and intensity of these surveys. Given the environmental pressures being experienced across the Circumpolar North, such as climate change and resource development, it is imperative that wildlife populations be monitored such that it is possible to detect negative population indicators early so action can be taken before a conservation concern arises. Although considered remote and unpopulated by many outside the region, Labrador is home to a predominantly Indigenous population who continue to interact with the lands, waters and wildlife species throughout the year, developing an extensive understanding of their local environments over large timeframes. As an Indigenous person who is also a federal public servant, I appreciate the value of working within multiple knowledge systems and follow an underlying principle that the best way to inform conservation decisions is by supporting conversations to share skills and information. In this presentation I will discuss how CWS funding and community-based programs collectively work to advance Arctic Biodiversity Assessment Policy Recommendation 14, better integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the assessment, planning and management of Arctic biodiversity. Involving community members in CWS activities and supporting community-led initiatives has generated mutually beneficial, ongoing, local-level information that guides conservation recommendations, promotes a better understanding of the biodiversity in Labrador, and supports the advancement of shared conservation goals. As capacity increases at the community level, I spend less of my time counting birds and more of my time speaking with community members, helping each other to better understand and protect biodiversity throughout Labrador - an approach I refer to as “conversation biology”.

Community-led monitoring and ecological restoration in the Arctic: history, power and resilience

Tero Mustonen, Snowchange Cooperative (presented by Phillipe Fayt)

The Arctic is in the middle of a monumental system shift [2] affecting the ecology, human societies and the position of the region in the global context. Monitoring of Arctic change is an increasingly interesting theme for the wider scientific community [2] as well as multinational corporations having vested interests in the Arctic resources and transport corridors and global assessments interpreting the speed, extent and quality of such change. Recent studies on effects of climate change [1] on biodiversity confirm the system shift to be on a planetary scale. Past monitoring efforts of the Arctic [2] have included the documented observations of the Indigenous and local-traditional peoples but these societies have not been seen as actors of change in themselves or an agency for independent adaptation [1]. This paper explores the top-down power histories of monitoring of the Arctic. It then provides alternate community-led examples of what has been called in scientific literature [3] “dynamic governance and conservation”, responses and establishment of “safe havens” [1] for biodiversity and Indigenous peoples in the changing Arctic. Most specifically, the paper reviews the efforts under way in the Atlantic salmon catchment area of Njâuddam River in the Finnish-Norwegian sub-Arctic. The Skolt Sámi of the river system have successfully established community-based monitoring [4] detecting arrival of southern insect species and extreme weather events. This has led the Sámi to launch wide-scale Indigenous-led river ecosystem restoration, including renewed salmonid spawning areas and habitats, natural flows and a development of oral histories and cultural indicators of change that provides an independent monitoring feed alongside scientific studies of the catchment area.

The value of community-based monitoring to support green-infrastructure planning, sustainable resource use and multi-use of the landscape

Henrik Hedenås, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Sven Adler, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Alessia Uboni, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Per Sandström; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Reindeer lichens are the pivotal winter grazing resource for reindeer and caribou, but they have drastically declined in the last century across the Circumpolar North, changing the prerequisites for a sustainable reindeer husbandry. Reliable maps depicting the distribution of key resources as ecosystem services are therefore urgently needed for green-infrastructure planning, sustainable use of specific resource and multi-use of the landscape. Additionally, maps may facilitate consultations and improve the understandings of stakeholders’ needs. To produce such maps, we combined field data from the Swedish National Forest Inventory (NFI) and the community-based Reindeer Husbandry Plan (RHP) monitoring programme with auxiliary data to produce a model-based map depicting predicted cover of reindeer lichens for two Sami reindeer herding communities in northern Sweden. By including field data from the RHP the model-based map improved significantly compared to a map that only incorporates field data from the NFI. The former detected stands with especially high lichen coverage to a higher extent than the latter. Indeed, due to their rareness forest stands with especially high lichen coverage are highly underrepresented in the NFI dataset. The community-based monitoring made as part of the RHP focuses specifically on key habitat areas with high lichen coverage. Thus, when we also include the field data from the RHP in the models, we get a model-based map that is able to predict the occurrence of high coverage of reindeer lichens in the landscape. Conversely, only including data from the RHP in the models would overestimate the coverage of lichens in the landscape, since contrary to the NFI the RHP visits only a limited number of sites with low lichen coverage. Further, preliminary analyses shows that areas with high lichen coverage depicted by the model to a high extent correspond with the core winter grazing areas traditionally used by the Sami community. Community-based monitoring has recently been expanded to also include documentation and monitoring of reindeer summer grazing areas. Since concerns have been raised by the reindeer herders that climate change and increased human use may affect the status of the summer grazing land. Thus, in the future, it will be possible to combine field data from the national monitoring programs and community-based monitoring in order to predict the occurrence of important summer grazing areas.

PISUNA - From community-based monitoring to management in Greenland

David Mitchell, IUCN

PISUNA established a process that enables traditional knowledge and community-level environmental observations to be incorporated into the decision-making process and inform management actions for natural resources. A pilot phase was funded by the European Union’s BEST Initiative from 2013-2016. The process is led by a Local Resource Council (LRC) which decides on the targets of the monitoring based on the relevance for their community. Observations are recorded, collated (in a publically available in a web-based application) and then discussed by the LRC at regular intervals. On the basis of the observations and trends relative to previous years recommended management actions are formulated and submitted to the local authority or the central government, depending on the appropriate decision-making level. Suggested management actions have included changes to hunting and fishing seasons, changes to quotas and amendments to local laws such as imposing restrictions on fishing methods. The process empowers local communities to meaningfully participate in the management of natural resources that are of great importance to them, and facilitates dialogue with decision-makers promoting mutual understanding and acceptance of management decisions taken. Community level observations often fill gaps where scientific data does not exist and can provide data over a wide area and on a continual basis. The availability of this data can shorten the time between the observation of a change and a decision on management of that resource and provides a basis for adaptive management as observations not only improve the understanding of status and trends and inform management responses, but also identify whether these responses are having the desired effect and highlight where more detailed observations are required. This is particularly important in the context of increasing threats as a result of climate change. The PISUNA approach is simple, relatively low cost, builds on existing informal systems and can be easily adapted. There is therefore a large potential for replication and it represents a concrete example of how to integrate traditional ecological knowledge into the assessment, planning and management of Arctic biodiversity and involve Arctic peoples in the survey, monitoring and analysis of Arctic biodiversity (ABA recommendation 14) and promote community-based monitoring as an element in conservation and management (ABA recommendation 15). The value and benefits of the locally-led process developed by PISUNA was highlighted in Greenland’s statement at the 16th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Mainstreaming biodiversity through partnership: Arctic expedition cruise tourism and citizen science

Audrey Taylor, University of Alaska Anchorage; Þórný Barðadóttir, Icelandic Tourism Research Center

Many northern destinations are seeing a rise in “last chance” tourism as the public awakens to the loss of Arctic sea ice and permafrost environments. Increasingly, tourists are going to places that have previously been visited mainly by scientists, the military, and residents of Arctic communities (e.g., the Northwest Passage, northern and eastern Iceland). Many tourists access these areas via expedition cruise ship, and tourism industry stakeholders have reported a change in the number and type of passengers found on these ships. Formerly, most Arctic tourists were well-informed and curious about the remote areas they visited; today, tourists are reported to be less knowledgeable and less concerned about Arctic geography and environmental issues. At the same time, Arctic observing networks (such as the EU INTAROS program) report sparse contributions of in-situ observations relative to satellite-derived data. At-sea seabird surveys recommended by the CBMP’s Seabird Monitoring Plan are rarely accomplished on a broad geographic scale. And yet, advancement in cloud-based data sharing platforms have made possible the collection of global biodiversity data into a single highly accessible repository, as evidenced by the popular eBird avian observation database maintained by Cornell University. We propose that citizen science programs designed for use aboard expedition cruise ships could both increase tourists’ understanding of the Arctic environment, and collect in-situ biodiversity data. Citizen science (engaging volunteer participants in structured data collection) has proved to be an indispensable means of combining scientific research with education and public engagement. Citizen science “pushes the envelope” of what scientists can achieve with limited funding and personnel, and provides a powerful tool for increasing environmental awareness and scientific literacy. With international collaboration, citizen science programs designed specifically for the expedition cruise ship platform could be a powerful tool for collecting biodiversity data for seabirds, marine mammals, or indicators measuring disturbance, and could provide passengers with additional intangible benefits. Some Arctic expedition tour operators already use citizen science programs to meet their education mandate; expanding these single ship programs into a larger observing network could turn tourism into a positive vehicle for Arctic biodiversity conservation. Our talk will present tourism research data and an overview of existing ship-based citizen science programs to support our proposal.