United Nations Environment Programme's 2018 Observer Activities Report to the Arctic Council

I. The Organization's contributions to the work of the Arctic Council's Working Groups, Task Forces, and/or Expert Groups

The United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) has been active as an Observer to the Arctic Council since 1996, taking part in the Council’s Ministerial, Senior Arctic Officials meetings and, together with its collaborating centre GRID-Arendal in Norway and the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) in the UK, has engaged actively in the efforts of most of the Council’s scientific and technical working groups. As the United Nation’s organization setting the global environmental agenda and along with the Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) it administers—including those on biological diversity, hazardous waste, chemicals and mercury—UN Environment has facilitated global outreach for some of the Council’s work. Notably, UN Environment continues to provide technical support on a number of assessment and monitoring activities as described below.

Since May 2016, UN Environment has engaged in the Council’s work, as follows:

1. UN Environment will release its sixth edition of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6) at the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 4) in March 2019. Polar issues are cross cutting and are referred to as relevant throughout the report. GEO-6 is UN Environment’s flagship assessment to keep the world environment under review, and combined with it’s negotiated and endorsed Summary for Policy Makers, is a critical knowledge product which bridges the science-policy interface at the ministerial level.

2. UN Environment’s GEO-6 (Global Environment Outlook) for North America process identified Arctic issues (both rapid social and biophysical changes and impacts) as a key regional priority. GEO-6 author teams worked in collaboration with members of the AMAP, building upon their work, to deliver our assessment.

3. UN Environment participated in the Arctic Environment Ministers’ Meeting(October 2018, Rovaniemi), where it provided a keynote presentation for the ministers on the Global Arctic - inter-related issues in the areas of pollution,climate change and biodiversity.

4. UN Environment regularly participates in the Senior Arctic Officials meeting, and provided a statement during the observer intervention session on pollution (October 2017) and on biodiversity (October 2018).

5. UN Environment shares the interest of the Arctic countries in the sphere of circular economy and its relevance for, and application in the Polar region. UN Environment has delivered a presentation on these matters called “Striving for lowcarbon and resource-efficient circular economy in the Arctic” during the October 2018 SDWG meeting.

6. UN Environment is collaborating with the Social, Economic and Cultural Expert Group (SECEG). UN Environment has submitted its comments and recommendations concerning the report “Exploring the way (SECEG) could work better” (September 2018), in particular in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

7. UN Environment’s Chemicals and Waste Branch participated in the meeting of ACAP providing a presentation during its observer session (November 2018) on chemicals of global and Arctic concern.

8. UN Environment continues to outreach key environmental information on the Arctic to our wide range of stakeholders through our ‘Environment Live’platform (https://uneplive.unep.org/region/data/AR#). Maps are provided, along with regional datasets and traditional knowledge.

9. UNEP-WCMC contributes to the Arctic Council work on Arctic Biodiversity indicators, Arctic peat lands, protected areas, sea birds and wilderness protection, and biodiversity gap analysis.

10. UN Environment actively participated in this year’s Arctic Biodiversity Congress, presenting relevant information and chairing various sessions, including closing remarks from the Director of UNEP-WCMC (October 2018). More specifically, during the Arctic Biodiversity Congress:

a. GRID-Arendal facilitated, jointly with the Sámi Council, a joint CAFF/AMAP session on “Understanding cumulative effects on Arctic biodiversity and landscapes”. It was organized as a facilitated conversation where the participants evaluated and added new information to a set of prepared maps, and explored ways to better include local and indigenous knowledge to conventional maps.

b. UNEP-WCMC convened a session on private sector engagement in Arctic biodiversity conservation and data use, which included a presentation by UNEPWCMC on the Proteus Partnership on biodiversity data sharing, and a call for stronger sharing of biodiversity data from public and private sources in the Arctic.

c. UNEP-WCMC, in collaboration with the CAFF Secretariat also updated the information on the status of protected areas in the Arctic, and released new figures on the coverage of Arctic marine and terrestrial protected areas.

d. UNEP-WCMC also provided an overview of the potential for application of global biodiversity models in the Arctic, and their relevance to the future of Arctic conservation policy and practice.

11. Building on experiences through the Proteus Partnership, UNEPWCMC is engaging with the CAFF project on mainstreaming Arctic biodiversity considerations within the mining/extractives sector.

12. UNEP-WCMC has engaged as an observer to the CAFF Board, including through participation at the CAFF Board meeting in Fairbanks in 2018.

13. GRID-Arendal has co-chaired two CAFF events: Nomadic herders lavvu dialogue and Nomadic herders: ‘Enhancing the resilience of pastoral ecosystems and livelihoods of nomadic herders’.

14. UN Environment hosts the Secretariat of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), of which seven of the eight the Arctic Council member states are partners. The CCAC has worked to shape the expertise and good practices needed to address black carbon and methane abatement measures. Many of the CCAC initiatives on black carbon and methane are relevant for the Arctic Council member states. The work of CCAC is closely linked with the work of ACAP.

15. UN Environment participated in the marine litter workshop led by PAME(Aukreyri, Iceland, June 2018); through its participation, it presented the global work on marine litter and provided comments and inputs to the Arctic Council marine litter assessment report under preparation. It will stand ready to provide further input to the Arctic Council marine litter action plan, as requested.

16. GRID-Arendal has led the production of the Desktop Study on Marine Litter commissioned by PAME. GRID-Arendal is also leading the University of the Arctic’s Thematic Network on Marine litter and microplastics and is therefore closely cooperating with relevant scientists.

17. UN Environment participated in the Task Force for Arctic Marine Cooperation meetings and provided information on institutional and governance arrangements under various regional seas programmes. It also provided information on the current cross-sectoral cooperation on a regional seas scale.

18. UN Environment together with AMAP has been preparing the Global Mercury Assessment 2018. During the Minamata Convention COP2 (Geneva,November 2018) UN Environment and AMAP jointly presented the context,content and key findings of the upcoming final report.

II. The organization's future plans for contributing to the work of the Arctic Council's Working Groups, Task Forces, and/or Expert Groups

1. Together with Finland’s Ministry of Environment and implemented by GRID-Arendal, UN Environment is producing The Vital Arctic Graphics publication. The new report incorporates the Arctic Council as well as other research, is being peer reviewed by the Arctic Council Working Groups and Permanent Participants, and will be launched at UNEA 4 (March 2019) and presented to the Arctic Council meeting (May 2019). A series of graphics/ maps,short videos, powerpoints and posters will be used for outreach and communication purposes throughout 2019, including through social media, to raise awareness of Arctic issues and the interlinkages with global issues.

2. In the beginning of 2019, UN Environment is going to publish in the Global Mercury Assessment report targeting policy-makers and including a summary of key messages, undertaken in collaboration with AMAP.

3. As a result of the GEO-6 assessment process, UN Environment together with GRID-Arendal and Natural Resources Canada will to produce a specific Rapid Response Assessment, due in the 3rd quarter of 2019, examining coastal permafrost thaw in Canada. It is hoped that this effort will serve as a precursor to a more comprehensive AMAP assessment.

4. UN Environment intends to further engage in the SDWG and SECEG in the broader sustainability work, including on low carbon solutions, circular economy,sustainable management of resources, responsible mining, the Arctic dimension of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

5. Jointly with the World Reindeer Herders, GRID-Arendal, the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry and UN Environment is preparing a global Medium-sized Proposal for the GEF focusing on sustainable reindeer husbandry and landscape conservation. The proposal is building on the Nomadic Herders project endorsed by CAFF.

6. UN Environment, through UNEP-WCMC will also continue to engage with the CAFF Governing Board and wider biodiversity work of the Arctic Council,including through maintaining an updated and common dataset on the protected areas of the Arctic.

7. UN Environment seeks to continue its work on the Arctic Migratory Bird Initiative (AMBI) and migratory bird issues with the CAFF.

8. UN Environment will submit information on the ecological quality objectives of different regional seas as it is being compiled, for the benefit of the PAME Working Group on Ecosystem Based Approach to Management.

9. UN Environment plans to continue supporting PAME on marine issues,including marine debris. GRID-Arendal is looking forward to continue working with the PAME working group on the topics of marine litter and micro plastics.

10. UN Environment plans to continue supporting the Task Force on Arctic Marine Cooperation by providing input relating to existing regional cooperative models.

11. UN Environment will seek to facilitate collaboration on black carbon and related issues, through the Climate and Clean Air Coalition.

12. UN Environment seeks to continue work with Permanent Participants of the Arctic Council and undertake a dedicated dialogue on matters of common concern and cooperation.

III. The organization's contributions to other aspects of the Arctic Council and its goals not covered by the previous sections

1. UN Environment has undertaken some internal restructuring to strengthen our capacity to support the Arctic Council’s working groups, task forces and/or experts including the nomination of a Principal Adviser, Strategic Engagement for the Arctic and Antarctic as well as a reformed and more focused ‘Polar Working Group’ within the organization. This underscores the increased importance UN Environment is putting on Arctic issues.

2. UN Environment engages in the preparation of the September 2019 Climate Summit of the UN Secretary-General; within this engagement it will endeavor to accentuate the gravity of climate challenges and urgency of solutions for the Arctic and its inhabitants.

3. UN Environment has nominated Mr. Viacheslav Fetisov as the UNEnvironment Patron for Polar Regions to enhance the visibility of Arctic issues and their interlinkages to the rest of the world.

4. UN Environment is preparing a special event on the North Pole called“the Last Game”, to be conducted in April 2019. The event in its essence is a hockey game, performed by various sports personalities from all over the world.The aim of the game is to demonstrate that the Arctic environment is very fragile,and all the current and future development of the region must be conducted in a sustainable manner; and, to focus attention on the rapid speed of global warming.More information about the event can be found at: https://www.unenvironment.org/events/un-environment-event/last-game .

5. UN Environment will further prospect potential of linking of Arctic governance with the “Third Pole” (Hindu-Kush Himalayas), and looking at how the good practice in the Arctic Council can be replicated.

6. As the UN’s voice for the environment, one of UN Environment’s strengths is its ability to convene representatives of UN Member States in support of Arctic Council priorities, as well as the business sector, NGO’s, academia and the science community, and other stakeholders whose actions and work impact the Arctic.

7. UN Environment entered in partnership with the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators, which has become an active part of the UN Clean Seas Campaign targeting the marine litter challenge.

8. UN Environment’s activities on Indigenous Peoples’ issues in the Arctic are distributed globally through its annual reports to the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues.

9. UN Environment has outlined some additional possible future actions within the Council’s work within this report. The organization will be looking for possible future initiatives that might assist with other aspects of the Arctic Council’s goals, and will bring them to the attention of Council members and the Council’s working groups as appropriate, and in interaction with the Arctic Council members,permanent participants as well as other observer organizations (in particular with the UN family members).

The full text of the report is available at https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/2280.