Resilience in Bloom: Flowers at the Heart of Arctic Security

Flowers bloom across the harsh Arctic landscape. Photo: Khoeriyah

The Arctic Institute Resilient Roots Series 2025

Aside from their visually striking and brightly colored blooms, the diverse roles of flowering plants often go unnoticed beneath our feet, but as humans, they guarantee our very security. That may seem like an exaggeration, but as this commentary shows, flowers play a key role in various aspects of human security in the Arctic: regional symbolism, food chain stability, and preventing the entire climate from collapsing, to name just a few.

Moss Campion: Anchoring Arctic Food Chains

The importance of berries to Arctic security, specifically food sovereignty, cannot be overstated. Still, their very existence is underpinned by the Arctic’s flowers: one of the most important of which is Moss Campion. Moss campion offers a reliable nectar source, something that is scarce year-round in the Arctic. This helps sustain pollinator populations through the Arctic summer, which increases the chance that berry plants receive sufficient pollination when they flower. Its dense growth creates sheltered microhabitats that improve survival conditions for other plants, namely berry-producing species. Because moss campion generally grows near berry shrubs in tundra biocommunities, it effectively shares its pollinator visitors.

While moss campion isn’t vanishing everywhere yet, studies show it’s at risk of decline under climate change. Moss campion flowers earlier in warmer conditions, but its pollinators often prefer other plants, like avens. When those competitors bloom at the same time, insects mostly carry their pollen, leaving moss champions with fewer chances to reproduce and fewer seeds, and in theory, fewer plants over time. This means climate change could make it harder for moss campion to spread or even survive, especially since it’s less attractive to pollinators. If moss campion were to disappear, it would have a ripple effect throughout the Arctic ecosystem. Its loss would mean fewer pollinators in general, and therefore a weaker berry harvest. Local northern communities rely on these berries for food and culture, but in the Arctic, where fruit and vitamin C is scarce, animals also depend on successful berry harvests.

Cottongrass, peatlands, and climate security

If you were to picture the tundra in your mind, it would be reasonable if what you envisioned included cottongrass. Yet it is very rarely recognized for its small and well-hidden flowers; this distinctive looking Arctic plant is easily recognized by its fluffy, cotton-like heads. Nonetheless, cottongrass is a key flowering component of Arctic wetlands, playing a vital role in climate security. In the waterlogged Arctic peatlands, the dead plant material of cottongrass decomposes slowly and eventually accumulates as peat. This essentially locks carbon in for centuries, with cottongrass-dominated peatlands being some of the most important carbon stores on Earth. While Peatlands only make up 3% of the Earth’s surface, they store a third of the world’s carbon which is twice the amount of all of the world’s forests. That is exactly why states, even non-Arctic ones such as Scotland, are working desperately to restore peatlands. A decline in cotton grass would release stored carbon, exacerbating climate change. This would not only destabilize entire tundra ecosystems, but would also have global implications.

Purple Saxifrage as a Symbol of Northern Security

The purple saxifrage’s contribution to human security extends far beyond its biological function; it holds a deep cultural significance across Arctic societies. With its bright blossoms providing a stark contrast to the snow, it is one of the first plants to reemerge after the Arctic’s long winters. It is, in fact, the most northerly flowering plant that can be found. Likewise, it can also be found in other challenging regions such as the European Alps, Scotland’s Trotternish, and the Rocky Mountains. It is for this reason that purple saxifrage is symbolic of renewal, and is a visual representation of Arctic resilience and endurance in one of the world’s harshest climates. Notably, in 2000, the purple saxifrage was adopted as Nunavut’s official flower. As one of Canada’s northernmost territories, the incorporation of purple saxifrage into Nunavut’s coat of arms is a testament to the security of the territory’s enduring Arctic cultural identity. It is also the official county flower of the Nordland region in northern Norway, chosen as a symbol of the region’s distinctive Arctic flora.

Yet, this very symbol of Arctic endurance is threatened by climate change. It is vulnerable to warming temperatures, and also stress from drought. However, most significantly, purple saxifrage is threatened by competition from other plants which are adapting to longer flowering seasons, such as avens. These flowers gain more attention from pollinators, meaning the purple saxifrage faces reduced pollination, and therefore less seed production and spread. It is both alarming and a tragedy that the world’s most northern flowering plant, which has long been recognized for its hardiness, is at risk due to global warming.

More Than a Visual Spectacle

Taken together, moss campion, cottongrass, and purple saxifrage remind us that Arctic flowers are far more than decoration across the Arctic’s oftentimes barren landscape. They hold together food webs, maintain the global climate’s balance of carbon, and serve as cultural emblems of resilience and identity. Despite this, the traits that make them cornerstones of Arctic ecosystems are being undermined by climate change. Their decline would not only erode biodiversity in the region but would also reverberate throughout human security, from food sovereignty and cultural continuity to global climate stability itself. To overlook the Arctic’s flowers is to overlook the fragile systems that sustain both the Arctic and our wider world.

Anthony Heron is a Research Associate and Deputy Editor-in-Chief at The Arctic Institute.