NNA Track 2: Developing coordinated monitoring networks across Alaska and Northwest Canada to evaluate and address rapidly changing environments

航行新北极(NNA)是NSF的十大想法之一。NNA项目解决了快速变化的北极地区汇聚的科学挑战。北极研究需要为国家、更大区域和全球的经济、安全和韧性提供信息。NNA增强了新的研究伙伴关系，从地方到国际范围，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，并整合了共同生产的知识。这一奖项部分实现了这一目标。在环境条件迅速变化的北极，监测这些变化的必要性对于为自然资源管理和土地管理提供信息、保护已建基础设施、减少对人类生命的风险以及增强北极社区的社区复原力至关重要。目前在阿拉斯加和加拿大北部，有许多环境监测项目，这些项目由不同的土著社区、政府机构和研究机构领导和实施，往往彼此之间几乎没有协调或联系。该项目由代表数十个实体的不同团队领导，通过将阿拉斯加和加拿大北部现有的项目联系起来，促进协调监测网络的发展。该项目旨在实现以下目标：1)更好地了解重要的现象和动态(例如，远距离野生动物迁徙模式、不断变化的气候模式、物种和栖息地的变化)，这些现象和动态只有通过收集大片景观的信息才能观察到；2)为个别方案提供满足共同需求的机会，同时减少重复劳动，利用有限的能力和资源；以及3)支持和加强由土著社区领导和/或实施的基于社区的监测方案。在两年的时间里，该小组定期与参与环境监测的多个利益攸关方群体接触，包括土著人民、科学家、工程师和资源管理人员。该组织共同开发协调的监测网络，将在阿拉斯加和加拿大北部收集的数据汇集在一起，并将这些信息应用于应对与粮食安全、基础设施脆弱性、人类安全、土地和资源管理以及土地和资源所维持的土著文化习俗相关的关键挑战。工作组共同制定和实施战略，以应对共同面临的挑战，以利用资源、建设能力和专业知识、减少重复并促进项目之间的协同。借鉴通过该项目制定的最佳做法和战略，还开发了包含工具、资源和培训的教育课程，以加强以社区为基础的监测方案，包括土著社区和科学研究人员成功合作的能力。在以前研讨会的基础上，这一不同的利益攸关方小组在两次面对面的工作会议期间进行合作，并组成长期工作组，以远程处理特定主题。该项目是通过一个迭代过程执行的，参与的利益攸关方通过该过程指导期望的结果、优先事项和要处理的主题，以及建立协调监测网络的重点、设计和指导方针。监测网络的初始范围包括社会经济主题(狩猎和捕鱼机会、竞争、技术)、环境危害(侵蚀、洪水、结冰条件、荒野火灾)以及影响重要生存资源的生物因素(物种丰富度、疾病、污染物)。这些主题正在扩大，并将由参与的利益攸关方最后敲定。两年期间的总体结构围绕两次面对面会议(相隔一年举行)、两次培训、成立长期工作组以及制定课程和书面产品展开。项目领导人和参与者还在该地区的主要环境会议上共同组织会议-阿拉斯加部落环境管理会议和阿拉斯加环境论坛-就项目活动接触更广泛的受众，并接收反馈并与社区领导人、科学家和管理人员进行对话。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) is one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas. NNA projects address convergence scientific challenges in the rapidly changing Arctic. The Arctic research is needed to inform the economy, security and resilience of the Nation, the larger region and the globe. NNA empowers new research partnerships from local to international scales, diversifies the next generation of Arctic researchers, and integrates the co-production of knowledge. This award fulfills part of that aim. In the Arctic where, environmental conditions are rapidly changing, the need to monitor these changes is critical to inform natural resource management and land management, protect built infrastructure, reduce risk to human lives, and enhance community resilience for Arctic communities. Currently in Alaska and northern Canada there exist numerous environmental monitoring programs that are led and implemented by a diverse array of indigenous communities, government agencies, and research institutions, often with little coordination or connection to one another. Led by a diverse team representing dozens of entities, this project fosters the development of coordinated monitoring networks by linking existing programs across Alaska and northern Canada. This project aims to achieve the following objectives: 1) to better understand important phenomena and dynamics (e.g. long-distance wildlife migration patterns, shifting climate patterns, species and habitat shifts) that can only be observed by collecting information across large landscapes; 2) to provide individual programs with the opportunity to address shared needs, while reducing duplication of effort and leveraging limited capacity and resources; and 3) to support and strengthen community-based monitoring programs, which are led and/or implemented by indigenous communities. Over a period of 2 years, the team regularly engages participants from multiple stakeholder groups involved in environmental monitoring, including indigenous peoples, scientists, engineers, and resource managers. Together the group co-develops coordinated monitoring networks that will bring together data collected across Alaska and northern Canada and apply this information toward tacking critical challenges linked to food security, infrastructure vulnerability, human safety, land and resource management, and indigenous cultural practices sustained by the land and resources. Working groups co-create and implement strategies to tackle commonly-shared challenges to leverage resources, build capacity and expertise, reduce duplication, and facilitate synergy among programs. Drawing from best practices and strategies developed through this project, an education curriculum containing tools, resources, and training also is developed to strengthen community-based monitoring programs, including the ability for indigenous communities and scientific researchers to successfully collaborate. Building off previous workshops, this diverse group of stakeholders collaborates during two face-to-face work sessions and forms long-term working groups to tackle specific topics remotely. The project is executed through an iterative process by which participating stakeholders guide the desired outcomes, priorities and topics to address, as well as the focus, design, and guidelines for establishing coordinated monitoring networks. The initial scope for monitoring networks includes themes of socioeconomics (hunting and fishing access, competition, technology), environmental hazards (erosion, flooding, ice conditions, wildland fire), and biological factors about dramatic changes affecting important subsistence resources (species abundance, disease, contaminants). These topics are expanding and will be finalized by participating stakeholders. The overall structure over a 2-year period centers around two in-person convenings (staged one year apart), two trainings, the formation of long-term working groups, and the development of a curriculum and written products. Project leaders and participants also co-organize sessions at major environmental conferences in the region - Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management and the Alaska Forum on the Environment - to reach out to a broader audience regarding project activities and to receive feedback and engage in dialogue with community leaders, scientists, and managers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.