Welcome back after your summer holidays and fieldwork!

As new chairmen we have been working hard in continuing the successful development of the CBMP. With Canada's success, led by Mike Gill's determination, dedication and extensive experience in chairing the CBMP, we've had some big shoes to fill. We'd also like to recognize and thank the Canadian team behind Mike and the major efforts put forth by the CAFF Secretariat. As co-chair's we have been developing teams that bring relevant resources and expertise to maintain the continued success of this world-class monitoring program.

It's been a busy summer and as the work continues there are many more eyes on communities and resources across the circumpolar Arctic. Continued progress in working internationally is at the forefront. Time differences, language differences, lack of infrastructure to reach many of these locations, climatic conditions and physical geography of the Arctic are just some of the difficulties that hinder communicative processes. Nonetheless, there are many examples of successful collaboration occurring at all levels. Involvement in international workshops, forums, conferences, and gatherings of the like, is allowing stakeholders representing a broad spectrum to discuss workings of their collaboration and have advanced our work substantially. With major contributions from so many partners such as the CBD, CMS, GEOBON, GBIF and others outlined in this issue we continue to make progress every day.

As you may recall, our first task over the summer was to develop a new four-year work plan to guide efforts and ensure continuity. The four-year strategy was submitted to the CAFF Board and recently approved. The overall focus of the strategy is to ensure that the marine, freshwater and terrestrial Arctic Biodiversity Monitoring Plans developed under the CBMP expert groups will continue to progress and that activities under these groups will continue to expand in the coming years. Also, look forward to seeing the Terrestrial Plan in coming months as it has been approved and will be released publically in October. 

Hope that you enjoy the newsletter and wish you all a wonderful autumn,

Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program

The Secretariats of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and its daughter Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) are working with CAFF through Resolutions of Cooperation to improve the conservation status of migratory species that use the Arctic as an essential breeding and feeding area during their wider travels. The Arctic hosts many migratory species such as the blue and fin whale, the harbour seal, sharks and birds such as the red knot, which are listed on the CMS Appendices.

Sharing of information and data assessments on migratory species between the CMS family and CAFF is their priority. To initiate their cooperation, the organizations are fundraising to develop and Arctic Breeding Migratory Bird Atlas within the CBMP-developed Arctic Species Trend Index to analyse existing data to better understand migratory bird routes, the threats to them, and ultimately trans-boundary management needs.

Arctic tern. Photo: Sergey Dereliev, CMS

The organizations are involved with each other's working groups, such as CMS Working Groups on: Flyways; Migratory Landbirds in the African-Eurasian Region; Aquatic Mammals; and Climate Change. AEWA is represented on CAFF's Circumpolar Seabird Expert Group (CBIRD) . CMS also looks forward to CAFF participation in a future strategic review of protected area systems and ecological network initiatives.

CBMP works with Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP) to contribute to global indices and indicator development

The CBD-mandated Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP) is a global initiative to promote and coordinate the development and delivery of biodiversity indicators for improved monitoring and assessment of biodiversity.

BIP is the primary mechanism for monitoring progress towards the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. In the first instance, 17 of the 20 Aichi targets are covered by at least one of the BIP indicators. In the coming years the Partnership will endeavour to fill gaps and expand its set of indicators to ensure that a comprehensive framework of global indicators is available to monitor progress towards the suite of Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

The CBMP, as a regional partner contributes to these efforts through its extensive indices and indicators development. The CBMP's indicator work on the Arctic Species Trend Index, protected areas, linguistics and other selected indicators of change help supports the following Aichi Targets pertaining to the following issues:

• Target 5- habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation
• Target 6- sustainable harvest
• Target 9- invasive species
• Target 10- vulnerable ecosystems
• Target 11- protected areas
• Target 12- avoided extinction
• Target 14- ecosystem services

The CBMP is one of over forty BIP partners working internationally on indicator development to provide the most comprehensive information on biodiversity trends. The CBMP has also developed A Strategy for Developing Indices and Indicators to Track Status and Trends in Arctic Biodiversity. For more information on the BIP, visit the BIP website.

The Marine Steering Group and Marine Expert Networks are currently busy preparing for their upcoming Annual CBMP-Marine Steering Group and Expert Network meeting which will take place in Akureyri, Iceland from October 29-31. 

This meeting will bring together experts involved in sea ice, plankton, benthos, fish, marine mammals and seabirds. Representatives from other Arctic Council Working Groups including PAME and AMAP, along with representatives from the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists will also attend. 

The meeting will provide an opportunity to review progress over the past year, compile results from the work that has been done, and plan for the continuation of work in 2014. The marine experts hope to discuss how to work more closely and strengthen the collaboration with other Working Groups of the Arctic Council. 

The Marine Steering Group is very pleased to welcome a new member, Elizabeth McLanahan, Director of the NOAA Office of International Affairs and Senior Advisor to the NOAA Administrator. She is the Vice-chair and U.S. member to PAME .

The Arctic Freshwater Biodiversity Monitoring Plan. Click to access.

National Freshwater Expert Networks (FENs) and the CBMP Freshwater Steering Group (CBMP-FSG) are cooperating to accumulate existing and new data on (1) biodiversity and (2) abiotic components that strongly affect biota for the purpose of undertaking circumpolar freshwater assessments.

The recently released Arctic Freshwater Biodiversity Plan (The Freshwater Plan) is composed of five projects that will be completed by the FENs and coordinated by the CBMP-FSG. Currently, the CBMP-FSG members are seeking funding for the five projects from their country authorities. Projects one to three will involve the collection of existing circumpolar freshwater data. In Project four, sampling methodology will be contrasted across the Arctic nations to determine comparability of the freshwater data. Finally, Project five will involve national assessments of freshwater biodiversity, leading to a circumpolar assessment of status and trends in Arctic freshwaters by the CBMP-FSG for the 2016 State of Arctic Freshwater Biodiversity Report. 

The Freshwater Plan details the rationale and framework for improvements related to the monitoring of freshwaters of the circumpolar Arctic, including ponds, lakes, their tributaries and associated wetlands, as well as rivers, their tributaries and associated wetlands.  

The CAFF Board approved The Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring Plan at their most recent meeting September 10-12 in Yellowknife, Canada.

The document will undergo layout and is anticipated to be published and available for download from the CAFF website in October. For more information and updates please see the Terrestrial Monitoring section of the CAFF website.

Contact: Tom Christensen or John Payne, CBMP Co-Chairs 

The Arctic Institute of North America (AINA), University of Calgary is examining CBMP Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring Plan implementation feasibility at northern Canadian research stations. This study is supported by Environment Canada. AINA, home to the Kluane Lake Research Station (KLRS) in Yukon, is a member of the Canadian Network of Northern Research Operators (CNNRO) and the International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (INTERACT).

The goal is to engage station mangers, the research community, and agencies charged with monitoring terrestrial biodiversity and resource management, in a dialogue to:

1. Assess alignment between current station-based activities (research and monitoring) and proposed CBMP activities;
2. Determine opportunities for harmonization with the CBMP Terrestrial Plan;
3. Identify necessary resources and capacity building requirements for enabling uptake of monitoring of Focal Ecosystem Components identified by the CBMP;
4. Assess how implementation of the CBMP recommendations might improve research (capacity and results), decision-making, and the exchange of data and information among Canadian stations, researchers, and agencies, and with the international terrestrial research and monitoring communities.

AINA will implement a survey to elicit input from key parties following preliminary discussions at the INTERACT Station Managers Forum at the Abisko Scientific Research Station, Sweden on September 25-28, 2013. Initial results will be available for continued discussion at the CNNRO meeting in December in Halifax. Following open review, a final report will be released in Spring 2014.

• International cooperation in Arctic biodiversity monitoring from the World Ocean Council
• Seatrack project at Novaya Zemlya: Migration and winter distribution of Barents Sea seabirds poorly investigated due to difficulty of direct observation
• Canadian contribution to Arctic megabenthic diversity monitoring
• Yukon government partners with Alaska and Northwest Territories for management of shared species
• Peregrine Fund launches Tundra Conservation Network
• The Arctic char of Lake Rostuj�vri - a competition and climate change induced enigmatic resource for anglers  

The Peregrine Fund of Boise, Idaho, USA, has launched a research coordination network on the ecology and function of Arctic tundra under climate change. The network pulls together scientists representing all eight Arctic nations and who represent diverse scientific disciplines, including predator-prey population dynamics, landscape ecology, tundra vegetation dynamics, and climatic and ecological modelling.

The Arctic char of Lake Rostuj�vri - a competition and climate change induced enigmatic resource for anglers

Rostuj�vri char. Photo: Johan Hammar

Researchers from Sweden and Scotland studied a shift in fish species on Lake Rostuj�vri in northernmost Sweden as requested by the local S�mi running a fishing camp for anglers. The results highlight that global warming in the North negatively affects the survival of the sensitive Arctic char by favouring competitors more adapted to warmer water.

Lake Rostuj�vri has been regarded as a national prime angling site for large Arctic char. Fisheries focusing on char seems to have contributed to a long term shift in the species balance.

Scientific work on Lake Rostuj�vri. Photo: Johan Hammar

Comprehensive analyses of four species caught with experimental gillnets in August 2003 revealed concordant evidence of a fish community dominated of grayling, boosted by an increase in summer temperature, and repeated rich year class production during years with low precipitation and high summer temperatures. As only young char were caught, a temporary migratory escape from increasing temperature, inter-specific interactions is suggested. 

Char from the S�mi ice fishery in May 2004 revealed the missing size and age groups in August 2003 to have returned to the lake. Their otoliths demonstrated yearly check-marks from reduced growth from the third summer, indicating corresponding habitat shifts into downstream environments with lower temperature. The report will be available for downloaded shortly at the following location.

Contact: Johan Hammar, Arctic char programme, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences