CircumArctic Rangifer Monitoring and Assessment Network (CARMA) is a scientific research network, launched in 2004 in Vancouver, British Columbia,[2] and funded by the Canadian International Polar Year (IPY) which focusses on the health of "the North's migratory tundra caribou and wild reindeer populations" in the face of global change, with up to 80% declines of some herds of wild Rangifer since 2004.
[4] In 2000 Rangifer was confirmed as the key indicator species and the official network was endorsed at a Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) group gathering in Iceland held "to develop a framework for a circumpolar biodiversity monitoring program.
"[2] CARMA was launched in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2004 and is funded under the Canadian International Polar Year (IPY) program.
The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF)'s Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program, "an international network of scientists, governments, Indigenous organizations and conservation groups working to harmonize and integrate efforts to monitor the Arctic's living resources"[4] invited CARMA to become an official network.
[16] CARMA representatives presented at the 16th North American Caribou Workshop, the "foremost conference of its kind addressing caribou biology, research and management", held in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in May 2016 organized by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, Trent University, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and Amec Foster Wheeler.