The Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program’s Marine Scoping Workshop was held at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources in Nuuk, Greenland November 5-7, 2019. The Program has been working with partners across the Arctic to enhance long-term marine biodiversity monitoring efforts, led by the Marine Steering Group. This culminated in the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Plan (CBMP-Marine Plan) in 2011, followed in 2017 by the State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Report. This Marine Scoping Workshop was conducted to consider revisions to the CBMP-Marine Plan based on new information, key findings, expert advice, and national reports and to inform the development of a new coordinated plan for the program’s next phase.
Megan Sheremata, 2019 IASC SHWG Fellow, participated on behalf of IASC (funded by a cross-cutting activity), and contributed input based on her research experience within Indigenous-led marine monitoring networks in the Hudson Bay Basin. Her input emphasized a knowledge co-production approach to monitoring, with greater emphasis on collaborative methodologies at all stages so that biodiversity assessments can better serve the information needs of Indigenous land-users and decision-makers. Megan has submitted a report to IASC leadership and the Marine Working Group, with recommendations for coordinating with the CBMP Marine Steering Group.