Stepping up cooperation and climate action to protect polar bears

“This polar bear swims in the ocean where her grandmother once walked on top of it.”

Dr. Jon Aars, a contributor to this issue, made this observation in the region he studies. He was referring to the effects of Svalbard’s melting sea ice, but this sobering comparison captures the impact of the climate crisis on polar bears across the Arctic.

In just over 20 years—about two polar bear generations—parts of the Arctic have heated up so much that sea ice, the bears’ essential habitat, no longer exists, forcing the bears to adapt swiftly.

Fortunately, polar bears are not only top predators, but master adapters, and in many parts of the Arctic they are still in good shape. But in others, climate change is simply happening too fast for them to keep up. Bold, urgent climate action is needed if we are to avoid losing all but a few subpopulations by the end of this century. We are at a critical juncture. We must act quickly and decisively.

In this special issue of The Circle, we mark 50 years of international cooperation on polar bear conservation. We explore how knowledge, tools and approaches have evolved over time and identify what is collectively needed to secure a future with polar bears in it.

In 1973, when the governments of Canada, Greenland (Kingdom of Denmark), Norway, Russia and the US signed a legally binding, multilateral treaty on polar bear conservation, we had little scientific knowledge about polar bear populations across the Arctic. Their solitary, roaming nature and the sheer vastness and remoteness of their icy home precluded systematic, large-scale surveys, and still makes research today costly and even dangerous. But new tools in the polar bear conservation toolbox—like the ability to retrieve genetic profiles from paw prints in snow and novel tracking devices that can be fitted to the bears’ ears or even attached to their fur—are helping scientists to carry out polar bear research in culturally considerate ways and understand how the bears are coping with climate change.

We cannot afford to waste time or money acting in isolation. Governments must learn from one another and collaborate continuously and effectively.

– Kirsten Schuijt, director general, WWF International

In contrast to scientific knowledge, which is relatively new, Indigenous knowledge about polar bears’ behaviours, habitats and interactions in the Arctic marine ecosystem has been accumulated and passed down among coastal Indigenous communities over thousands of years. It is an overdue development, yet a critical and welcome one, that Canada, Greenland and the US are now taking steps to co-produce western science and Indigenous knowledge, co-manage populations, and support Indigenous-led habitat protection for polar bear management and conservation. Solutions will only be sustainable if they are owned and driven by people who live and work there.

The legally binding, multilateral commitment by the five governments in 1973 was a landmark step and a success story for species conservation. It still stands today, but now that climate change is the biggest threat to polar bears, do these governments still have the power to secure a future for the species?

Continued international cooperation on polar bear habitat protection, sustainable population management and use, and coexistence between people and polar bears is essential. We cannot afford to waste time or money acting in isolation. Governments must learn from one another and collaborate continuously and effectively.

They must also lead in implementing key global treaties. Three of the five countries that signed the polar bear agreement are now among the world’s top 10 highest emitters of greenhouse gases. They, together with all world leaders, must act to limit global warming to 1.5°C through the Paris Agreement. In addition, through the new Global Biodiversity Framework, the Arctic countries must protect and conserve 30 per cent of the Arctic Ocean by 2030.

If done right, these actions will help to secure the entire Arctic Ocean food web, maintain functional ecosystems in the face of change, and protect essential polar bear habitats for their survival now and in the future.