The Importance of Alaska for Climate Stabilization, Resilience, and Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract

Alaska is globally significant for its large tracts of intact habitats, which support complete wildlife assemblages and many of the world’s healthiest wild fisheries, while also storing significant amounts of carbon. Alaska has 1/3 of United States federal lands, the bulk of the United States’ intact and wild lands, and over half of the country’s total terrestrial ecosystem carbon on federal lands. Managing Alaska’s public lands for climate and biodiversity conservation purposes over the next 30–50 years would provide meaningful and irreplaceable climate benefits for the United States and globe. Doing so via a co-management approach with Alaska’s 229 federally recognized tribes is likely not only to be more effective but also more socially just. This paper lays out the scientific case for managing Alaska’s public lands for climate stabilization and resilience and addresses three primary questions: Why is Alaska globally meaningful for biodiversity and climate stabilization? Why should Alaska be considered as a key element of a climate stabilization and biodiversity conservation strategy for the United States? What do we need to know to better understand the role of Alaska given future scenarios? We summarize evidence for the role Alaska’s lands play in climate stabilization, as well as what is known about the role of land management in influencing carbon storage and sequestration. Finally, we summarize priority research that is needed to improve understanding of how policy and management prescriptions are likely to influence the role Alaska plays in global climate stabilization and adaptation.

Small sight—Big might: Economic impact of bird tourism shows opportunities for rural communities and biodiversity conservation

“…Nature-based tourism is also widely viewed as an important conservation tool for engaging and partnering with indigenous communities, especially for those who seek to diversify and grow their generally small economic base [ 9 , 18 , 60 , 61 ]. To reduce the current pace of global biodiversity loss, effective conservation efforts require a rapidly deployable all hands on deck approach that relies on indigenous knowledge and leadership from communities often inhabiting or owning critical conservation lands [ 62 ].…”

“…Globally, Alaska plays a significant role in such biodiversity conservation, due to its vast tracts of intact habitat supporting complete wildlife assemblages and the world’s largest concentration of shore birds [ 9 ]. In addition, Alaska’s indigenous population inhabits much of the wild lands required for achieving global biodiversity targets and is one of the largest landowners in Alaska.…”

“…Growth in wildlife viewing is also happening at a time of unprecedented declines in global biodiversity [ 8 ]. Effective and immediate conservation action at a global scale is required to reduce and halt the decline [ 8 , 9 ].…”

“…Alaska, is one of the few remaining storehouses of intact habitat and complete wildlife assemblages. Thus, Alaska plays a central role in global conservation action [ 9 ]. It is home to the world’s largest concentration of shore birds and is a globally significant breeding hotspot for migratory birds.…”

Insights into drivers of population declines offer a ray of hope for migratory fishes in the temperate rainforest

“…Although their analysis was specific to one British Columbia watershed, the finding has important implications for forest management and habitat conservation in the broader coastal temperate rainforests of the North Pacific. These rainforests have been fragmented by over a century of logging and human development, but they still contain intact watersheds with global significance for biodiversity and climate stability, concentrated in Alaska and British Columbia (Orians & Schoen, 2013;Vynne et al, 2021). Migratory salmonid populations sustained by these rainforests support valuable commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries, contributing cash This article is a Commentary on Wilson et al,28,[72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85].…”