PAME II-2018 meeting was held in Vladivostok, Russia, on October 1~4 including pre-meeting of expert groups. 55 participants from Arctic Council Member States, Permanent Participants and Observers and invited experts were gathered in the meeting. The meeting aims at updating activities of ongoing projects, preparing activity plan of continued projects, and discussing new project proposals for 2019-2021 PAME Work Plan, which will be adopted under a new chairmanship by Iceland from the next Ministerial Meeting on May 2019.
In order to progress “the Framework for a Pan-Arctic Network of Marine Protected Areas”, project proposal for “a Factsheet series on Arctic climate change impacts”, and update of “the Arctic Protected Areas Indicator Report” was discussed. PAME and CAFF are preparing project proposals of “Arctic Invasive Alien Species Strategy and Action Plan”.
PAME has been continuing a number of projects and initiatives to promote safe and sustainable navigation in the Arctic. In the meeting, status report of the several ongoing projects such as “Collect, Report and/or Review Information about On-Shore use by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities of HFO”, “Explore the Environmental, Economic, Technical and Practical Aspects of the use by Ships in the Arctic of Alternative Fuels”, “Underwater Noise in the Arctic State of Knowledge”, ”the Compendium of Arctic Ship Accidents (CASA)”, ”the Safe and Low Impact Shipping Corridors” were discussed to prepare final report and/or continue their activities.
Regarding a theme on “Arctic Offshore Resource Exploration and Development”, progress of the Part II of “the Meaningful Engagement of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in Marine Activities (MEMA)”, and “MEMA database” as a resource for those interested in engagement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities was reported.
To develop “Ecosystem Approach to Management”, preparation of “the Draft Guidelines for Implementing an Ecosystem Approach to Management of Arctic Marine Ecosystems”, “2nd International EA Conference” to be held in Bergen” and “Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of the Central Arctic Ocean: Ecosystem Description and Vulnerability Characterization” was reported.
And the five co-leads(Iceland, Norway, Sweden, AIA and OSPAR) updated the project proposal of “Desktop Study on Marine Litter, including Microplastics, in the Arctic”.
Finally, PAME setup the SEQ of preparations for the next SAO, PAME I-2019, and 2019 Ministerial Meeting. Result of the meeting was published on the PAME website(https://www.pame.is/index.php/document-library/pame-reports-new/pame-working-group-meeting-reports). The next PAME meeting will be held in Malmö, Sweden, from 4th to 7th Feb. 2019.
Natsuhiko Otsuka (Hokkaido University / A member of Theme 7)
PAME II-2018
