Formation | 2004 |
---|---|
Founded at | Vancouver, British Columbia |
Key people | Don E. Russell coordinator [1] |
Website | carma |
CircumArctic Rangifer Monitoring and Assessment Network (CARMA) is a scientific research network, launched in 2004 in Vancouver, British Columbia, [2] and funded by the Canadian International Polar Year (IPY) which focusses on the health of "the North's migratory tundra caribou and wild reindeer populations" in the face of global change, with up to 80% declines of some herds of wild Rangifer since 2004. [3] : 3 The collaborative research is undertaken by an international team of scientists, administrators and members of local community members, particularly Rangifer hunters who share a common interest in their survival. [4]
In 2000 Rangifer was confirmed as the key indicator species and the official network was endorsed at a Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) group gathering in Iceland held "to develop a framework for a circumpolar biodiversity monitoring program." [2]
CARMA was launched in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2004 and is funded under the Canadian International Polar Year (IPY) program. The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF)'s Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program, "an international network of scientists, governments, Indigenous organizations and conservation groups working to harmonize and integrate efforts to monitor the Arctic's living resources" [4] invited CARMA to become an official network. [5]
During the 24-month period ending in March 2009, over fifty thousand researchers from over sixty countries embarked on collaborative intensive scientific research projects on the polar regions in the fourth and largest International Polar Year (IPY) since its inception in 1882, [6] [7] [8] [9] which resulted in the report entitled "Understanding Earth's Polar Challenges: International Polar Year 2007–2008". [6]
CARMA "has a small organizing committee coordinated through the Northern Research Institute (NRI) [10] of Yukon College in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada." [11] CARMA is a network under the CBMP Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP) which delivers biodiversity status to the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) group which reports directly to the Arctic Council (AC). CARMA included scientists from Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the United States and Russia. [11] [12] [13]
Tools and resources in 2004 included the caribou anatomy atlas, [14] voices of caribou people, standardized monitoring protocols, manuals, community training video, climate database, CARMA database, models and a website. [15]
In 2012 CARMA produced the report entitled "CARMA 8 Moving Forward: Knowledge to Action." [3]
In 2013 CARMA published "CARMA’s MERRA-based caribou range climate database" in the journal Rangifer . [16]
CARMA representatives presented at the 16th North American Caribou Workshop, the "foremost conference of its kind addressing caribou biology, research and management", held in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in May 2016 organized by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, Trent University, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and Amec Foster Wheeler. [17]
The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred in 1882–1883. Fifty years later (1932–1933) a second IPY took place. The International Geophysical Year was inspired by the IPY and was organized 75 years after the first IPY (1957–58). The fourth, and most recent, IPY covered two full annual cycles from March 2007 to March 2009.
The reindeer or caribou is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only representative of the genus Rangifer. More recent studies suggest the splitting of reindeer and caribou into six distinct species over their range.
Belkovsky Island is the westernmost island of the Anzhu Islands subgroup of the New Siberian Islands archipelago in the Laptev Sea.
The Canadian Wildlife Service or CWS, is a Branch of the Department of Environment and Climate Change Canada, a department of the Government of Canada. November 1, 2012 marked the 65th anniversary of the founding of Service.
The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic region. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle, and these constitute the member states of the council: Canada; Denmark; Finland; Iceland; Norway; Russia; Sweden; and the United States. Other countries or national groups can be admitted as observer states, while organizations representing the concerns of indigenous peoples can be admitted as indigenous permanent participants.
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) is a study describing the ongoing climate change in the Arctic and its consequences: rising temperatures, loss of sea ice, unprecedented melting of the Greenland ice sheet, and many impacts on ecosystems, animals, and people. The ACIA is the first comprehensively researched, fully referenced, and independently reviewed evaluation of Arctic climate change and its impacts for the region and for the world. The project was guided by the intergovernmental Arctic Council and the non-governmental International Arctic Science Committee. Three hundred scientists participated in the study over a span of three years.
The Porcupine caribou(Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) is a herd or ecotype of barren-ground caribou, the subspecies of the reindeer or caribou found in Alaska, United States, and Yukon and the Northwest Territories, Canada.
The barren-ground caribou is a subspecies of the reindeer that is found in the Canadian territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, in northern Alaska and in south-western, Greenland. It includes the Porcupine caribou of Yukon and Alaska. The barren-ground caribou is a medium-sized caribou, smaller and lighter-colored than the boreal woodland caribou, with the females weighing around 90 kg (200 lb) and the males around 150 kg (330 lb). However, on some of the smaller islands, the average weight may be less. The large migratory herds of barren-ground caribou take their names from the traditional calving grounds, such as the Ahiak herd, the Baffin Island herds, the Bathurst herd, the Beverly herd, the Bluenose East herd, the Bluenose West herd, the Porcupine herd and the Qamanirjuaq herd.
The International Permafrost Association (IPA), founded in 1983, is an international professional body formed to foster the dissemination of knowledge concerning permafrost and to promote cooperation among individuals and national or international organisations engaged in scientific investigation and engineering work related to permafrost and seasonally frozen ground. The IPA became an Affiliated Organisation of the International Union of Geological Sciences in July 1989.
Reindeer hunting in Greenland is of great importance to the Greenlandic Inuit and sports hunters, both residents and tourists. Reindeer (caribou) are an important source of meat, and harvesting them has always played an important role in the history, culture, and traditions of the Greenlandic Inuit. Controlled hunting is important for the welfare of reindeer, the quality of life for Inuit, both as food, and part of their culture and Greenlandic culture in general, and the preservation of tundra grazing areas. Therefore, scientific research is regularly performed to determine the quotas needed to maintain a proper ecological balance.
Canada's Biodiversity Convention Office (BCO) serves as National Focal Point for the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy. BCO also provides a leadership role in the Biodiversity Conservation Working Group of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation and in the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group of the Arctic Council.
Although the bulk of its area is covered by ice caps inhospitable to most forms of life, Greenland's terrain and waters support a wide variety of plant and animal species. The northeastern part of the island is the world's largest national park. The flora and fauna of Greenland are strongly susceptible to changes associated with climate change.
The Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) is a multilateral, non-binding agreement among Arctic states on environmental protection in the Arctic. Discussions began in 1989, with the AEPS adopted in June 1991 by Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The AEPS deals with monitoring, assessment, protection, emergency preparedness/response, and conservation of the Arctic zone. It has been called a major political accomplishment of the post–Cold War era.
The Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, based in Toronto, Ontario, is the Canadian affiliate of the Wildlife Conservation Society International (WCS), incorporated as a conservation organization in Canada in July 2004. WCS Canada currently runs conservation projects across six key regions in Canada led by its staff of field-based scientists.
The boreal woodland caribou, also known as Eastern woodland caribou, boreal forest caribou and forest-dwelling caribou, is a North American subspecies of reindeer found primarily in Canada with small populations in the United States. Unlike the Porcupine caribou and barren-ground caribou, boreal woodland caribou are primarily sedentary.
Participatory monitoring is the regular collection of measurements or other kinds of data (monitoring), usually of natural resources and biodiversity, undertaken by local residents of the monitored area, who rely on local natural resources and thus have more local knowledge of those resources. Those involved usually live in communities with considerable social cohesion, where they regularly cooperate on shared projects.
Kit Kovacs is a marine mammal researcher, best known for her work on biology, conservation and management of whales and seals. She is based at the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), Tromsø and is an Adjunct professor of biology, Marine Biology, at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS).
Caribou herds in Canada are discrete populations of seven subspecies that are represented in Canada. Caribou can be found from the High Arctic region south to the boreal forest and Rocky Mountains and from the east to the west coasts.
Jennifer F. Provencher is a Canadian conservation biologist. She is an early-career researcher and a spokesperson for the awareness of plastic contaminants in marine wildlife, pollution and climate change. Many of her work focus on the impact of human activities on the health of Arctic seabirds and marine ecosystems.
The reindeer is a widespread and numerous species in the northern Holarctic, being present in both tundra and taiga. Originally, the reindeer was found in Scandinavia, eastern Europe, Russia, Mongolia, and northern China north of the 50th latitude. In North America, it was found in Canada, Alaska, and the northern contiguous USA from Washington to Maine. In the 19th century, it was apparently still present in southern Idaho. It also occurred naturally on Sakhalin, Greenland, and probably even in historical times in Ireland.
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