Arctic Wetlands Ecosystems - Resilience through restoration and stewardship

This Belmont Forum project addresses the challenge of building resilience in a rapidly changing Arctic. The project sheds light on human activities that affect Arctic wetland systems and local knowledge about and stewardship of wetlands. Restoring and safeguarding Arctic wetlands strengthen the functions and values of these ecosystems. Locally, wetlands act as a buffer by storing and filtering heavy precipitation and meltwater. Wetlands constitute important nesting areas for birds, spawning areas for many fish species and important habitats for other fauna and flora. These habitats also have a cultural and economic value in the form of reindeer husbandry, hunting, fishing, tourism, and recreation. Wetlands are important because they store large amounts of carbon. Even though wetlands only make up about 3% of the earth's land area, these ecosystems store an estimated 20% of the worlds terrestrial carbon - and thus, being the largest regional store of carbon on the planet. Through participatory methods, the project will test and identify solutions to strengthen local participation in the restoration and management of Arctic wetland systems. This will contribute to a more relevant and legitimate management regime of these habitats, securing their ecosystem services, and building resilience in local and indigenous communities that live off or are otherwise dependent on these services. The project feeds important input into an existing project (Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands - RMAW), a project that provides channels for sharing results and new knowledge for Arctic discussions and decision-making processes. This knowledge includes perspectives and experiences from various actors, including local users of wetland systems.

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This Belmont Forum project address the challenge of building resilience in a rapidly changing Arctic. It does this by focusing on human activities that impact Arctic wetlands ecosystems, supporting and strengthening communities' capacity to engage in wetlands restoration and stewardship. Restoring and caring for Arctic wetlands builds ecosystem resilience and natural capital. At a local scale, wetlands buffer heavy precipitation and snow-melt and filter and store water. They provide crucial habitat for biodiversity, providing nesting and breeding areas for migratory bird species and spawning areas for fish species. As such, they support traditional livelihoods activities including reindeer husbandry, hunting and fishing, other cultural and recreational activities, and tourism. Also, intact wetlands store a stunning amount of global carbon. While they make up only about 3% of the Earth's land area, wetlands store an estimated 20% of the worlds terrestrial carbon - the largest regional store of carbon on the planet. Identifying and testing approaches for strengthening the engagement of local communities and other actors in the restoration and stewardship of Arctic wetlands ecosystems helps increase community resilience though shared engagement - and through the ecosystem service benefits derived from improving wetlands ecosystems' resilience. NIVA's role in the project is to provide methodological and technical support, to contribute to the development of methods for knowledge co-production, and to contribute to communications. The other partners of this project are: Arctic Initiative (Belfer Center, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government), Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, Institute of Forest Science (Russian Academy of Sciences), Northland Sustainability Consulting, Saami Council International, Stiftelsen Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm Sustainable Finance Center, Swedish EPA, Sámiid Riikkasearvi and World Wide Fund for Nature.