September 7, 2001

A glossy book with a lot to say

JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News

ROVANIEMI, FINLAND — You'll often find glossy photos used as mere eye candy in books about the Arctic — but not in this new publication about the plants and animals of the circumpolar world.

Despite the hundreds of photos and graphics reproduced in Arctic Flora and Fauna: Status and Conservation, this book has far more substance than many similar books.

A committee under the Arctic Council's Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna — or CAFF — program released this book at last June's Arctic Council gathering in Rovaniemi, Finland.

CAFF's job is to track changes in Arctic species and habitats, and to promote conservation.

Their book — the result of three years' work — is the first circumpolar look at the Arctic's natural environment and Arctic conservation.

"Many scientists or groups of specialists have looked at parts of the Arctic or at different species, but until now no one has taken a comprehensive look at the state of the entire Arctic," says Sune Sohlberg, a Swede who chairs CAFF.

Although 150 Arctic scientists and experts contributed to the book, it's written in plain, accessible language.

Its sections explore subjects like ecology, people, conservation, and various habitats in the Arctic — forest, tundra, polar desert, rivers, lakes, wetlands, oceans and seas.
There's also a wealth of information about animal populations and population trends, including a beautifully illustrated list of marine mammals.

A series of 75 boxes, spread throughout the text, contain anecdotes on a variety of subjects, such as erosion in Iceland and the destructive hunting of murres in Greenland.

One box describes the most northerly forest in the world, located at 78 degrees latitude, on the Ary-Mas in Siberia's Taimyr Peninsula.

Ary-Mas is a rare "remnant forest" left over from a warmer period when the tree line extended farther north than it does today. Its trees are predominately larch, spread over 60 square kilometers. The forest is also home to many species found only in boreal forests to the south.

CAFF members will use the book when they draft recommendations on how to better protect Arctic flora and fauna. They'll table those recommendations at the next major meeting of the Arctic Council, which is scheduled to happen next September.

The 5,000 copies of the book are distributed through various northern organizations or through the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi.

(For information on how to get a copy, e-mail the Arctic Centre at anna-liisa.sippola@urova.fi.)

Arctic Flora and Fauna: Status and Conservation, lead author, Henry P. Huntington, Edita: Helsinki, Finland, 272 pp.