Status of the species in Scandinavia has been questioned and it is treated there as a variety.

European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)
EU 27 regional assessment: Endangered (EN) B2ab(iii)

This plant is common in Russia and Svalbard and is therefore assessed as Least Concern.

In the EU 27, it only occurs in Sweden and Finland where it is rare and declining. The populations are severely fragmented and it is suspected that the area of occupancy is less than 250 km². The species is threatened by overgrowth as a result of grazing abandonment and water pollution. No rescue effect from the northern populations is expected and it is therefore assessed as Endangered.

Artcophila fulva is a mainly arctic circumpolar species, but is very rare on the mainland of northern Europe west of the White Sea. It is known from three widely separated occurrences: one at the Ponoj east of the Kola Peninsula, a formerly large group along the border between Sweden and Finland and along the coast at the head of Bothnia around Oulu, and in Kautokeino. The species is common in Svalbard and Bear Island (Artsdatabanken 2010).

In Finland, the actual occupied area of the population is c. 4,000 m².  Most of the population is in a river estuary in Liminganlahti Bay, near Oulu, and only c. 350 m² in Tornionjoki River. In Sweden, it has an extent of occurrence of 2,156 km² and an area of occupancy of 48 km². It is therefore suspected that the area of occupancy for the EU 27 is less than 250 km².

The populations in Finland and Sweden are rare and declining (Artsdatabanken 2010, ArtDatabanken 2010). The number of mature individuals in Sweden is 2,500 in five sites which are severely fragmented (ArtDatabanken 2010).
In Finland, the estimated population size is between 200,000 and 500,000 individuals.
In Norway, it only occurs at two small localities at the Kautokeino watercourse with less than 50 mature individuals. It is possible that the species has more occurrences along the river, but sporadic investigations have not resulted in new discoveries. The one locality at Gåruvuoppi has gone almost extinct in the early 80s but it now consists of a few colonies (less than ten). It is unclear whether the colonies are the result of seeds or vegetative spread by rhizomes. The species situation improved between 1984 and 1996 (Artsdatabanken 2010). It is rather common on Svalbard, Spitzbergen and islands around, such as Bear Island.
In Russia, this plant is common and only rare on the Kola peninsula. There is no information on the population trend.

Arctophila fulva is a perennial plant that is found in shallow water and sometimes flooded marshes, usually in deep peat (Lid and Lid 2005). It occurs on the banks of lakes, rivers and streams, littoral mud wet grasslands and swamps. In Sweden and Finland the main habitat today are shallow shores with low salinity and land upheaval on muddy soils. It is a weak competitor.

As the species is a weak competitor, grazing abandonment and the subsequent overgrowth is a threat to the species. Overgrazing can have a negative impact. Water pollution such as eutrophication can also be a threat. The Swedish and Finnish localities are on the edge of the species range, and are therefore vulnerable to any changes to its habitat. Domestic water pollution has been mentioned as a threat to the small occurrence on mainland Norway (Artsdatabanken 2010).

It is sometimes used as hay for animals in Russia, but is often not harvested as the land is too wet.

Arctophila fulva is listed on Annex II of the Habitats Directive.
It is categorized as Least Concern in Russia (I. Illarionova pers. comm. 2010). In Sweden, it is classed as Endangered B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)+2ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v) (Gärdenfors 2010) and is protected at national level. In Norway, it is listed as Critically Endangered D1 (Artsdatabanken 2010).
It is also listed as Endangered A2c; B1ab(iii)c(iv)+2ab(iii)c(iv) in Finland (Rassi et al. 2010). There, the species is protected by law and named as a species under strict protection (Nature Conservation Decree 913/2005). All sites in Finland and Sweden are in the Natura 2000 network.