Take ourWin reader a WWF survey: Arctic panda.org/thecircle gift pack! MAGAZINE Challenges 6 No. 3 Conservation 20 2017 THE CIRCLE Innovation 22 WALRUSES:THE BARENTS REGION GOING THEWITH URBAN THE FLOES?ARCTIC PUBLISHED BY THE WWF ARCTIC PROGRAMME THE CIRCLE 3.2017 THE BARENTS REGION EDITORIAL Looking to the future, building on the past 3 IN BRIEF 4 THOMAS R. ARMSTRONG Challenges 6 ALEXANDER VYLEGZHANIN and ORAN YOUNG Improving governance 8 Contents SVEIN D. MATHIESEN and MIKHAIL POGODAEV Arctic change and reindeer husbandry in the Barents Region 10 Saami in the Barents Region 14 MAP: The Barents Region 16 BO STORRANK Conservation 20 LARS GEORG FORDAL Innovation in the urban Arctic 22 TERO VAURASTE Driving sustainable economic development 24 ALEKSANDR PAVLENKO and ALEXEI GOLENKEVICH Protecting marine ecosystems 25 WWF IN THE BARENTS REGION IGOR CHESTIN WWF-Russia 26 HÅKAN WIRTÉN Sweden: opportunities in the Barents 28 DR. LIISA ROHWEDER Finland: protecting the lesser white-fronted goose 29 NINA JENSEN WWF-Norway: Battling to conserve the Arctic lifeline 30 MARGOT WALLSTRÖM In the eye of the storm 31 THE PICTURE 32 The Circle is published quarterly Publisher: Editor in Chief: Leanne Clare, COVER: Urban polar youth, Kiruna, by the WWF Arctic Programme. WWF Arctic Programme [email protected] Sweden. Reproduction and quotation with 8th floor, 275 Slater St., Ottawa, Photo: Michiel van Nimwegen, CC, Flickr appropriate credit are encour- ON, Canada K1P 5H9. Managing Editor: Becky Rynor, aged. Articles by non-affiliated Tel: +1 613-232-8706 [email protected] ABOVE: Great Cormorants sources do not necessarily reflect Fax: +1 613-232-4181 the views or policies of WWF. Design and production: (Phalacrocorax carbo), Lofoten, Send change of address and sub- Internet: www.panda.org/arctic Film & Form/Ketill Berger, Norway. scription queries to the address [email protected] Photo: © WWF-Norway / Frode Johansen / WWF on the right. We reserve the right ISSN 2073-980X = The Circle to edit letters for publication, Printed by St. Joseph Communications and assume no responsibility for Date of publication: unsolicited material. December 2017. Thank you for your interest in The Circle. Many of our subscribers have moved to an e-version. To receive an electronic copy in your email instead of a paper 2 The Circle 3.2017 copy, please write to us at [email protected] and help us reduce our costs and footprint. EDITORIAL Looking to the future, building on the past I HAVE HAD a personal connection to the Barents ecore- It is critical to learn from the Indigenous peoples of gion for over 30 years. My memories of this incredibly the region such as the Saami and Nenets. They strive diverse part of the Arctic include seeing walruses and to maintain their traditional lifestyles through reindeer polar bears living on the ice; the snow-covered mountains husbandry and fishing while enriching modern culture of Kola peninsula and Svalbard; watching whales and with their unique knowledge systems and experiences. fishermen in Norway’s waters warmed by the Gulfstream On behalf of its member organizations, the Saami Council and reindeer roaming the tundra of Scandinavia and Rus- outlines the role they expect to play. Lars Georg Fordal sia’s Nenets region. But there is much more to the Bar- writes about advanced research into alternative energy, ents than wildlife and beautiful landscapes. This region telecommunications and modern technology to benefit all has been inhabited for thousands of years, making it the the peoples of the Barents. most densely populated and developed part of the Arctic Tero Vauraste calls the Barents a model for sustainable with unique and exciting cultures. economic development in the north, citing numerous There are modern cityscapes such ambitious plans to develop off- as Murmansk, Tromsø, Kiruna and shore resources Vorkuta that support an array of as climate change industrial development including oil THERE IS MUCH MORE pushes sea ice and gas production, mines, power TO THE BARENTS THAN away and brings stations and nuclear power plants, access to what forestry production and large ports WILDLIFE AND BEAU- people call “new filled with commercial fishing vessels ocean.” The and processing plants. TIFUL LANDSCAPES Barents can be The Barents encompasses the only a global leader commercially operational trans-Arctic sea route – the in creating a sustainable Blue Economy Dr. ALEXANDER Northern Sea Route – linking western and eastern mar- integrating Sustainable Development SHESTAKOV is Director kets. Globally significant fisheries within the Barents Goals that benefit communities while of the WWF Arctic Pro- support food security far beyond the region. Traditional maintaining biodiversity and stewardship gramme fossil fuel resources are abundant and governments in of their rich natural capital. Achieving the region plan to develop new reserves. Iron, nickel sustainability will require national commitment as well as and other metals from the region supply global markets. a strengthening of regional co-operation. Oran Young and Meanwhile, climate change is having an impact in this Alexander Vylegzhanin disuss the Barents’ strong roots region, as in the rest of the Arctic, at a much faster rate in collaborative governance through the Arctic Council, than the rest of the world. Barents Protected Areas Network, the Nordic Council of This edition of The Circle explores these challenges Ministers and the Barents Euro-Arctic Council. The new and opportunities. Thomas Armstrong addresses future Chair of the BEAC, Margot Wallström acknowledges that influences of the industrial sector within the Barents. Bo even though the Barents is the epicentre of the global cli- Storrank writes about the joint efforts needed to safe- mate crisis, there is enormous potential here. guard the biodiversity and ecosystem of the region, while WWF’s role is to navigate these changes, challenges looking at measures already in place under the Barents and opportunities. Each of our CEOs in the Barents will Protected Area Network. Aleksandr Pavlenko and Alexei update you in how they plan to work to the advantage and Golenkevich weigh in on improved fishing technology protection of all peoples, species and the environment for the sustainable use of the vitally important marine in this complex, multinational and ecologically diverse resources. region. l The Circle 3.2017 3 IN BRIEF time. The Guardian newspa- Scientists per reports the voyage under- scores how climate change experiment is opening the high Arctic to increased shipping. with oil-eating The tanker Christophe de Margerie carried lique- bacteria fied natural gas (LNG) from Norway to South Korea in 19 ARCTIC BIODIVERSITY CONGRESS 2018 TEACHERS AND STUDENTS days. That’s about 30% faster ROVANIEMI, FINLAND at Murmansk Arctic State than the conventional south- University have teamed up ern shipping route through OCTOBER 9-11, 2018 with WWF-Russia to identify the Suez Canal. bacteria that may help clean The tanker was built to take The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) up oil spills in cold Arctic advantage of the diminishing (https://caff.is), the biodiversity Working Group of the Arctic waters. Oil-eating bacteria Arctic sea ice and deliver gas Council, is seeking individuals and organizations to provide could be particularly useful from a new Russian facil- abstracts, organize sessions and submit posters that will encour- in remote areas of the Arctic, ity on the Yamal Peninsula. age a dialogue on Arctic biodiversity among scientists, indig- where delivering oil spill It is the biggest Arctic LNG enous peoples, policy makers, government officials, students, equipment and removing the project to date and a favoured industry representatives and others at the Arctic Biodiversity collected oil is nearly impos- project of Russian President Congress 2018 (https://www.arcticbiodiversity.is/index.php/ sible. This technique has not Vladimir Putin. congress). been widely used, and has On its maiden voyage, the Submit via the online submission system by March 30, 2018 never been used in the north. tanker crossed ice fields 1.2m (https://www.arcticbiodiversity.is/index.php/program) At low temperatures, some thick, transiting the northern bacteria are inactive while sea section of the Russian CAFF in partnership with the Ministry of the Environment, Fin- many may not survive the Arctic route in just six-and-a- land, is organizing the Arctic Biodiversity Congress 2018 to pro- winter. half days. mote the conservation and sustainable use of Arctic biodiversity. Student scientists are The Congress is relevant to all who wish to make specific and researching which bacte- significant contributions to the conservation of Arctic biodiversity. ria are more tenacious and Norway The Congress will be held in Rovaniemi, Finland on October have the better appetite, and 9-11, 2018, and will build upon the success of the first Congress, under what weather condi- continues push held in Norway in 2014. tions they work best. Learn more about the Arctic Biodiversity Congress program and into Arctic waters register (https://www.arcticbiodiversity.is/index.php/ register-2018) now. Russian tanker for more oil Please submit proposals for presentations, posters and/or clocks record NORWAY HAS ANNOUNCED it sessions that address the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment rec- will open an unprecedented ommendations (https://www.arcticbiodiversity.is/index.php/the- time through 93 blocks for Arctic oil report/report-for-policy-makers/policy-recommendations) and exploration in the Barents implementation actions (https://caff.is/actions-for-arctic- Arctic Sea. The new production biodiversity-2013-2021) by March 30, 2018. licenses are expected to be A RUSSIAN TANKER travelled awarded to oil companies Thank you for your interest in participating in and contributing to through the northern sea in early 2018. Norway is in the Arctic Biodiversity Congress 2018! route in record speed in many ways a forerunner in Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions. August and without an ice- preventing climate change breaker escort for the first with plans to replace gaso- 4 The Circle 3.2017 IN BRIEF LNG tanker Arctic Lady, Norway.