The project is led by CAFF, which is the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council and consists of National Representatives assigned by each of the eight Arctic Council Member States, representatives of Indigenous Peoples' organizations that are Permanent Participants to the Council, and Arctic Council observer countries and organizations.

This project proposes the first of three phases to develop the Arctic Biodiversity Indicators Dashboard. With a firm foundation for Arctic biodiversity monitoring, data management and assessment in place, and a framework of agreements to ensure cooperation between the relevant parties, the application of new technologies in the fields of data visualization, model-based indicator production, and reporting present a strategic opportunity to shorten the gap between data and decision-making and leverage these established foundations.

This way, it is the aim to deliver current data and predictive trends to policymakers to allow them to both anticipate and effectively respond to emerging biodiversity conservation issues. This will significantly shorten the gap between data and decision; and help facilitate ecosystem-based management in the Arctic.

The Arctic Biodiversity Indicators Dashboard would be a fit for purpose, user/policy-friendly interactive platform that harnesses and visualizes current datasets to streamline regional target tracking and reporting (e.g. for tracking progress towards CBD, SDG, targets, including those planned for Post 2020), and apply the latest advances in data visualization to:

1. Determine if the Arctic region is moving towards or away from key Aichi and SDG targets, using local, regional, or global data accessible through Arctic organizations (e.g. CAFF) or international institutions (e.g. GBIF, NASA, etc.).
2. Utilize APIs to allow for automated updates to indicators on the Arctic Biodiversity Indicators Dashboard to ensure sustainability of the platform visualizations.
3. Provide periodic tracking of important biodiversity trends while allowing users to select or deselect various features, functions and indicators.
4. Streamline access to evidence-based indicators in customizable scales to facilitate more effective and relevant national, regional and global biodiversity assessments.

Applicant: CAFF Secretariat, Kári Fannar Lárusson.

Partners: Tom Barry - executive secretary CAFF, Tom Christensen - CBMP and Aarhus University, Mark Marissink - CAFF Chair and Swedish Environment Agency, Mike Gill - Nature Serve/GEOBON, Alexander Shestakov – CBD Secretariat Russia and the Arctic Council.

Countries: Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Russia

Project start 2020, expected to be finalized in 2021.

Copyright pictures: unsplash.com