2008 Alaska Park Science Symposium
October 14, 2008
A Changing Arctic: Adding Protection to the Equation
Falk Huettmann1, Susan Hazlett2
1Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 409 Irving II, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA, Phone 474-7959, fffh@uaf.edu
2School of Fisheries and Ocean Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA, shazlett@hotmail.com
It is estimated that the Arctic Ocean will be open to global shipping, oil development, and other commercial activities such as fishing and tourism as soon as the next few decades. This study examines the creation of protected areas in the Arctic, both in terrestrial areas affected by climate change, and in the Arctic Ocean as marine protected areas and reserves. We use the simulated annealing algorithm in Marxan to explore various scenarios. Marxan can use spatially-explicit data to simultaneously examine a large number of data sets and propose a solution for protection of an area based on user inputs such as cost, level of protection desired, presence of endangered species, etc. One advantage of Marxan is that any data that can be expressed spatially can be used as an input, so both ecological and socioeconomic factors can be considered when creating a protected area. This study will develop proposals for a number of protected areas based on different scenarios such as economic development, maximum protection of ecological resources, protection of an endangered species, and protection of subsistence and cultural resources.
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