WWF Arctic Bulletin - “CAFF Delivers Report on Arctic Flora and Fauna”

“What is the overall state of the Arctic’s natural environment?” This sweeping question defines the ambitions of Arctic Flora and Fauna: Status and Conservation. This plain-language report was delivered by the Arctic Council working group CAFF (Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna), in Rovaniemi, Finland, on June 11, at the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy.

Although a simple answer to its opening question remains elusive, the 272-page book makes a valiant effort to summarize what is known while also explaining how Arctic ecosystems function. This latter aspect of the book is intended to provide readers a context in which to understand figures on population sizes or the extent of protected areas.

The idea of producing the report can be traced to a workshop sponsored by WWF-Arctic Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Karrebęksminde, Denmark, in September 1997. Workshop participants noted that CAFF lacked a visible showcase for its work and recommended a substantial report that could capture the range of issues and concerns covered by CAFF and address the need for circumpolar cooperation on conservation in the Arctic. The CAFF Working Group supported the idea, which was endorsed by the Arctic Council in September 1998.

At that point, a small editorial team got to work. Team members developed an overall strategy for the report and an outline, both of which were refined at the 1999 CAFF meeting in Yellowknife, Canada. As a result, the book’s general text, which gives an overview of Arctic ecosystems and conservation, is supplemented by 75 boxes that describe specific topics in greater detail, ranging from species to places, from ecological processes to conservation threats. In addition, the book is copiously illustrated in color with photographs, maps, and diagrams. Ideally, the report will be useful and interesting both to those who pick it up from time to time and to those who read it from cover to cover.

Human threaths

For the most part, the available information on the state of the Arctic environment is encouraging. Geese, for example, are thriving with the sole exception of the lesser white-fronted goose and subpopulations of various species in Eastern Siberia. In the decade since CAFF was formed, Russia has doubled the total area of its zapovedniks (strict nature preserves) in the Arctic. CAFF has also begun to address the conservation of rare, endemic vascular plants and the threat of seabird bycatch in commercial fisheries.

On the other hand, much remains to be done. Fragmentation and the impacts of roads, pipelines, dams, and transmission wires are serious threats across much of the region. Overharvesting of certain species is a problem in some areas. Climate change may radically alter the structure and functioning of Arctic ecosystems, with results that are hard to predict but may include the demise of certain species and populations, such as the Peary caribou. Pollution, the introduction of alien species and diseases, and more intensive human pressures such as uncontrolled tourism must also be addressed if the Arctic is to remain in its current state.

Obvious need for protection

As the report makes clear, conservation in the Arctic depends greatly on national and sub-national efforts, but multilateral and circumpolar cooperation are also necessary to protect migratory and shared populations and to address widespread threats. In addition, greater sharing of information on ecological status and on the effectiveness of specific conservation measures will help countries identify problems and take action. The editorial team was surprised at the difficulty of obtaining reliable information from around the Arctic on such basic parameters as population sizes. While a great deal of current information is included in the chapter “Status and Trends in Species and Populations,” long-term trend information is in most cases unreliable or unavailable.

While the report is attractive and substantive, and thus should draw considerable attention to Arctic conservation and to CAFF itself, it does not include recommendations for action. The challenge now facing the CAFF Working Group is to develop specific recommendations for action to be presented to the Arctic Council at its next meeting in the fall of 2002. The book provides the basis for such recommendations, which should demonstrate how CAFF and others can lead the way to realizing the hope expressed in the book’s final lines: “In much of the world, conservation is a matter of protecting what is left, or trying to restore what has been damaged. The Arctic offers a rare opportunity to demonstrate that humans can conserve a region, not as an afterthought, but as a priority”.

The book Arctic Flora and Fauna – Status and Conservation can be ordered from Edita, Finland, by e-mail: asiakaspalvelu@edita.fi, by internet: http://www.edita.fi/netmarket/, by phone +358 020 450 05, by fax: +358 020 450 2380. The price is 46,25 EUR.

Henry Huntington

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