Download Managing the Arctic in times of rapid change for a

Managing the Arctic
in times of rapid change
for a global stakeholder community:
the need for an
integrated management approach
Dr. Martin Sommerkorn, WWF International Arctic Programme, [email protected]
The Arctic is more than a place…
”The impacts of climate change in
the polar regions
over the next 100 years
will exceed the impacts
forecast for other regions,
and will produce feedbacks
that will have
globally significant
consequences”
IPCC WG II, p655
… most vulnerable to climate change.
NASA
2040
UCAR
Feedbacks out of the Arctic will
accelerate global warming
UNEP/GRID Arendal
Lawrence and Slater 2005
… , the Arctic is also the place
where vulnerability is of urgent
global relevance
Why am I telling you this in a session
on arctic non-renewable resources?
• Because arctic impacts of climate change alone
will stretch many arctic systems to their very limits.
• Because added pressures of increased human
activities will undoubtedly contribute significantly to
these pressures.
• Because therefore none of these impacts can be
handled in isolation when attempting to maintain
viable arctic systems.
• Because securing the functional integrity of key
arctic systems is of global importance - pressures
on these therefore are of global significance.
An integrated approach:
”Managing for Resilience”
Currently the only available framework that
• manages to maximise the ability of a system to
”absorb dramatic changes without collapse”
• combines ecosystems and social systems to a
socio-ecological approach, also considering
”values”
• considers all pressures in a flexible way adequate
for the anticipated rapid changes, some of the
aspects of which are not known a priori.
Managing for resilience:
from within a binding framework
• Factors, impacts, and consequences of arctic
climate change are increasingly large scale, crossborder, hard to predict, and rapidly changing.
• In light of this, current governance mechanisms
appear increasingly fragmented with large gaps in
jurisdiction, implementation, and effectiveness.
• The adoption of a simple international framework
convention would would provide an integrated
management basis for arctic environmental issues
adequate to cover the Arctic in times of rapid
change, through a harmonious, uniform approach.
”To not act represents the
annihilation of our community,
… lifestyle and culture”
Shishmaref Erosion and Relocation Coalition
Bill Hess 1999