Arctic Biodiversity Assessment Highlights Threats to Region, Offers Recommendations

A new report by a coalition of international scientists details the threats posed to Arctic biodiversity amid climate change, highlighting the environmental stresses and strengths of the region in the 674-page "Arctic Biodiversity Assessment."

Fifty-three scientists from 15 countries, collaborating under the auspices of the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council, complied the assessment.

"The assessment, which explores the potentially dramatic consequences of climate change and other factors that adversely affect species and their habitats in the Arctic, will provide critical information to policy makers on what is needed to secure the ecosystems and species that local communities rely on for their livelihoods," said Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, executive secretary for the Convention on Biological Diversity. "In essence, the report gives us a preview of what may happen in other parts of the world."

While the Arctic might conjure up images of barren frozen wasteland, the region is anything but. Polar bears, narwhals, and a wealth of flowering plants, lichens and other organisms populate the Arctic. There are more than 21,000 species that make their home in the Arctic, the researchers report.

"Climate change is by far the worst threat to Arctic biodiversity. Temperatures are expected to increase more in the Arctic compared to the global average, resulting in severe disruptions to Arctic biodiversity some of which are already visible," said Hans Meltofte of Aarhus University, chief scientist of the report.

"An entire bio-climatic zone, the high Arctic, may disappear. Polar bears and the other highly adapted organisms cannot move further north, so they may go extinct. We risk losing several species forever," he said.

Meltofte said as the planet warms, the temperature increase it will result in dramatic changes to Arctic biodiversity.

"As climate belts move north, large parts of the Arctic may lose their specific Arctic ecosystems and biodiversity," Meltofte said. "The Arctic is home to thousands of unique cold-adapted species, many of which are found only there. But with climate change and increased interest in the region, if we do not act now we may lose the incredible assets and fascination that Arctic biodiversity offers us all."

The report concluded with several policy recommendations regarding climate change, ecosystem management, identifying areas of biodiversity and improving public knowledge and awareness of the situation in the Arctic.

Read the full report here.