This review of community-based monitoring (CBM) in a changing Arctic is based on a multi-year initiative launched in 2012 as a task under the “Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks” (SAON), a network of Arctic observing networks. The goal of the task was to better understand the current state of CBM in the Arctic, with a particular interest in monitoring and observing based on Indigenous Knowledge (IK), and to make recommendations to SAON and the Arctic observing community more broadly about how to support engagement and development of CBM.
The task began with the creation of a searchable, online inventory of CBM and IK programs, projects, and initiatives: the Atlas of Community-Based Monitoring and Indigenous Knowledge in a Changing Arctic (www.arcticcbm.org). The Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA) developed this web-based atlas infrastructure on the Nunaliit Atlas Development Framework (http://nunaliit. org). The Atlas geolocates these various initiatives, visualizes the networks of communities that are involved, and shares metada- ta provided or verified by program staff.
