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

导航新北极（NNA）是美国国家科学基金会的十大构想之一。NNA项目解决快速变化的北极地区的融合科学挑战。北极研究需要为国家、更大地区和全球的经济、安全和复原力提供信息。NNA支持从地方到国际规模的新研究伙伴关系，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，并整合知识的共同生产。这个奖项部分实现了这一目标。在北极地区，环境条件正在迅速变化，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、保护已建成的基础设施、减少对人类生命的风险以及增强北极社区的复原力至关重要。目前，在阿拉斯加和加拿大北部，存在着大量的环境监测项目，这些项目由各种各样的土著社区、政府机构和研究机构领导和实施，彼此之间往往缺乏协调或联系。该项目由代表数十个实体的多元化团队领导，通过将阿拉斯加和加拿大北部的现有项目联系起来，促进协调监测网络的发展。该项目旨在实现以下目标：1)更好地理解只有在大范围内收集信息才能观察到的重要现象和动态（如野生动物的长途迁徙模式、气候模式的变化、物种和栖息地的变化）；2)为个别项目提供解决共同需求的机会，同时减少重复工作并利用有限的能力和资源；3)支持和加强由土著社区领导和/或实施的社区监测项目。在两年的时间里，该小组定期与参与环境监测的多个利益相关者团体的参与者进行交流，包括土著人民、科学家、工程师和资源管理者。该小组共同开发协调的监测网络，汇集从阿拉斯加和加拿大北部收集的数据，并将这些信息应用于解决与粮食安全、基础设施脆弱性、人类安全、土地和资源管理以及由土地和资源维持的土著文化习俗有关的关键挑战。工作组共同制定和实施战略，以应对共同面临的挑战，利用资源，建设能力和专业知识，减少重复，促进各项目之间的协同作用。根据该项目制定的最佳实践和战略，还制定了包含工具、资源和培训的教育课程，以加强以社区为基础的监测项目，包括土著社区和科学研究人员成功合作的能力。在之前的研讨会的基础上，这个不同的利益相关者小组在两次面对面的工作会议中合作，并形成长期的工作组来远程处理特定的主题。项目是通过一个迭代过程来执行的，通过这个过程，参与的利益相关者指导期望的结果、优先事项和要解决的主题，以及建立协调监测网络的重点、设计和指导方针。监测网络的最初范围包括社会经济学（狩猎和捕鱼机会、竞争、技术）、环境危害（侵蚀、洪水、冰情、野火）和影响重要生存资源的剧烈变化的生物因素（物种丰富度、疾病、污染物）等主题。这些主题正在扩大，并将由参与的利益攸关方最终确定。为期两年的总体结构围绕着两次面对面的会议（间隔一年），两次培训，长期工作组的形成，以及课程和书面产品的开发。项目负责人和参与者还在该地区的主要环境会议（阿拉斯加部落环境管理会议和阿拉斯加环境论坛）上共同组织会议，以便就项目活动与更广泛的受众接触，并与社区领导人、科学家和管理人员进行反馈和对话。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.