Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CAPARDUS (Capacity-building in Arctic standardisation develoment)
Reporting period: 2019-12-01 to 2021-05-31
The main issue of the project is to support the development of standards, guidelines and practices for environmental protection, economic development and other activities in the Arctic. There is growing human presence and footprint in the Arctic combined with a dramatic change in the climate and environment. This requires rules, regulations, guidelines, etc. which need to be adapted to local and regional conditions. There is no “standard Arctic”, only a variety of highly diverse regions and communities. At present there is no framework for integrating ongoing work on standardization among Indigenous and local communities, commercial operators and governance bodies. The Arctic Council and the Arctic Science Ministerial play an important role to promote cooperation in the Arctic on policy level. But people living and working in the Arctic need to operate according to ethics, norms, informal agreements, conventions, guidelines, common practices, best practice, international standard, etc. These are elements of the “standardisation continuum” which need to evolve in the various Arctic regions to support the sustainable economic development, safe activities, emergency prevention and response, and improved understanding and conservation of the environment. The overall objective of the project is to establish a comprehensive framework for development, understanding and implementation of Arctic standards used by people who operate in the Arctic.
WP1: Establishing a comprehensive framework for Arctic standards. A number of relevant documents related to standards, practices and guidelines have been reviewed and analysed. The documents comprised scientific-technical publications, unpublished reports, policy documents, regulatory documents, ethical and other guideline documents, and several recommendations and plans for future science, observations and services in the Arctic. A repository for the Arctic documents was set up under the Ocean Best Practice System (OBPS). This repository, denoted Arctic Practice is useful for searching text in documents on a subject by giving keywords. The repository is furthermore used for the design of and Arctic Practice System. The analysis of the selected documents was done by consortium members based on their scientific expertise. In the analysis information was extracted about types, themes, sub-themes and various attributes to characterize the method or standard described in the documents. The results were presented in the first version of deliverable D1.1 “Review of existing standards and frameworks relevant to the Arctic”.
WP2: Case studies in Greenland. Dialogue and collaboration has been established with actors in Greenland regarding development standards, practices and guidelines related to natural resource management. The actors include researchers, local communities, commercial operators and governmental agencies and policy makers. Several online meetings were organized with the actors instead of physical meetings. Progress is made in developing a working Bayesian Belief Network model to solve a selected natural resource management challenges in Greenland. The model is set up to demonstrate management of halibut fisheries and is developed in collaboration with stakeholders. The case study has contributed to incorporate local knowledge and Community-Based Monitoring (CBM) into decision-making in the Government regarding fisheries and hunting in Greenland. The goal is to establish a government executive order on CBM which will enable governmental support to community observations and thereby make it sustainable.
WP3: Case studies in Svalbard. Several online meetings have been organised with the Local Council, the Governor, tourist operators and other actors to identify standards, practices and guidelines for various activities. In order to map the development of standards among the operators in Svalbard, a survey was formulated and will be implemented during 2021. The survey consists of a questionnaire about guidelines, practices, regulations, etc. within selected topics, such as melting of permafrost, increased coastal erosion and snow avalanche. In March 2021 a workshop was organised online in collaboration with the CULTCOAST project with the objective to monitor, manage and protect sites and landscapes in Svalbard under climate change. The purpose of the workshop was to plan new community-based monitoring (CBM) and citizen science (CS) programs in the Svalbard area in collaboration with cruise operators, local guides and other researchers.
WP4: Case studies in Russia. The focus has been to further develop the CBM activities and identify the best practises for CBM projects in the Yakutia and Murmansk regions. Some 20 communities are involved in CAPARDUS and several of them have active CBM groups that are collecting local observations and communicate about their local knowledge. These groups contribute to documentation and mapping of indigenous knowledge and development of standards All dialogue activities have been online, because travels and physical meetings have not been possible.
WP5: Case studies in USA. A concept map is developed to show how coastal community observing programs currently produce and share information on environmental hazards in Alaska. A document analysis of observing efforts and community information needs has been conducted, addressing permafrost thaw, coastal erosion, etc. The analysis was used to prepare interview questions to stakeholders and users of coastal hazard observations. About 11 interviews were held and results are not available yet. The purpose is to provide an understanding of the landscape of organizations and individuals involved in coastal community observations of erosion, and permafrost thaw hazards.
WP6: Arctic Practice System. WP6 has focus on methodology to design an Arctic Practice System based on input from WP2-WP5 and literature. Internal workshops have been organised to clarify terminologies such as “co-design/co-production“ of knowledge. CAPARDUS has focus on how data and information in the communities should feed into the design of an APS. The APS system will extend the semantic technology from OBPS to include more Arctic-focused terminologies. The OBPS has set up an Arctic Practices repository for uploading of Arctic documents used by CAPARDUS to review standards and best practices. In addition to document analysis there will be interviews, surveys, workshops, dialogue with CBM and CS programmes, and communication with stakeholders. Work has been done to develop questions and surveys to to gather information in a structured way to support the design of the APS. In this way progress has been made in establishing an enabling environment for the APS design.
WP7: Synthesis, requirements and recommendations. This WP has not started.
WP8: Communication and outreach. The communication activities have focused on giving presentation of the project at conferences, workshops and dialogue meetings with organisations, projects and various stakeholders who are working with the same topics as CAPARDUS.
WP2: Case studies in Greenland. Dialogue and collaboration has been established with actors in Greenland regarding development standards, practices and guidelines related to natural resource management. The actors include researchers, local communities, commercial operators and governmental agencies and policy makers. Several online meetings were organized with the actors instead of physical meetings. Progress is made in developing a working Bayesian Belief Network model to solve a selected natural resource management challenges in Greenland. The model is set up to demonstrate management of halibut fisheries and is developed in collaboration with stakeholders. The case study has contributed to incorporate local knowledge and Community-Based Monitoring (CBM) into decision-making in the Government regarding fisheries and hunting in Greenland. The goal is to establish a government executive order on CBM which will enable governmental support to community observations and thereby make it sustainable.
WP3: Case studies in Svalbard. Several online meetings have been organised with the Local Council, the Governor, tourist operators and other actors to identify standards, practices and guidelines for various activities. In order to map the development of standards among the operators in Svalbard, a survey was formulated and will be implemented during 2021. The survey consists of a questionnaire about guidelines, practices, regulations, etc. within selected topics, such as melting of permafrost, increased coastal erosion and snow avalanche. In March 2021 a workshop was organised online in collaboration with the CULTCOAST project with the objective to monitor, manage and protect sites and landscapes in Svalbard under climate change. The purpose of the workshop was to plan new community-based monitoring (CBM) and citizen science (CS) programs in the Svalbard area in collaboration with cruise operators, local guides and other researchers.
WP4: Case studies in Russia. The focus has been to further develop the CBM activities and identify the best practises for CBM projects in the Yakutia and Murmansk regions. Some 20 communities are involved in CAPARDUS and several of them have active CBM groups that are collecting local observations and communicate about their local knowledge. These groups contribute to documentation and mapping of indigenous knowledge and development of standards All dialogue activities have been online, because travels and physical meetings have not been possible.
WP5: Case studies in USA. A concept map is developed to show how coastal community observing programs currently produce and share information on environmental hazards in Alaska. A document analysis of observing efforts and community information needs has been conducted, addressing permafrost thaw, coastal erosion, etc. The analysis was used to prepare interview questions to stakeholders and users of coastal hazard observations. About 11 interviews were held and results are not available yet. The purpose is to provide an understanding of the landscape of organizations and individuals involved in coastal community observations of erosion, and permafrost thaw hazards.
WP6: Arctic Practice System. WP6 has focus on methodology to design an Arctic Practice System based on input from WP2-WP5 and literature. Internal workshops have been organised to clarify terminologies such as “co-design/co-production“ of knowledge. CAPARDUS has focus on how data and information in the communities should feed into the design of an APS. The APS system will extend the semantic technology from OBPS to include more Arctic-focused terminologies. The OBPS has set up an Arctic Practices repository for uploading of Arctic documents used by CAPARDUS to review standards and best practices. In addition to document analysis there will be interviews, surveys, workshops, dialogue with CBM and CS programmes, and communication with stakeholders. Work has been done to develop questions and surveys to to gather information in a structured way to support the design of the APS. In this way progress has been made in establishing an enabling environment for the APS design.
WP7: Synthesis, requirements and recommendations. This WP has not started.
WP8: Communication and outreach. The communication activities have focused on giving presentation of the project at conferences, workshops and dialogue meetings with organisations, projects and various stakeholders who are working with the same topics as CAPARDUS.
The main expected impact will be: Enhanced stakeholder capability to operate in cold climate environments; Better servicing of the economic sectors that operate in the Arctic (e.g. shipping, tourism); Supporting the competitiveness of European industry, particularly SMEs, engaging in sustainable development of the Arctic