Polar
Programme
Climate change has moved global attention to the Polar Regions. Major changes are going to alter the Polar environment. Some of the last great wildernesses on earth and a unique and characteristic set of biodiversity are found here. Studying and monitoring environmental changes in the Polar Regions is vital and can give an insight into problems of global relevance.
Since
1992, UNEP-WCMC has worked on an Arctic
programme covering activities developed to compile information
for the Arctic region. Much of this is designed to support the Arctic
Environmental Protection Strategy process, in particular the Conservation
of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) programme and the regional aspect of the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-process) of UNEP.
The recent focus of the Arctic programme has been on monitoring changes in Arctic biodiversity at a circumpolar level. The CBMP has been launched in Cambridge in 2005 and is an active IPY project
The Arctic region is the origin of all major flyways of migratory water birds and here most strongly affected by climate change. They have been the focus of the work of UNEP-WCMC (further information on World Migratory Bird Day) . Most comprehensive is the information on birds, particularly water birds, in the Arctic Bird Library (ABL). A first regional study, undertaken by UNEP-WCMC and funded by WWF, produced the first circumpolar assessment of the impact of climate change on Arctic breeding water birds. In 2005 and 2006 within the EU project BALANCE the assessment has been refined for the Barents Sea region. A paper on the results is in press.
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