World Wildlife Fund

WWF’s work in this enormous region covers a wide range of conservation challenges. But, as WWF’s program director for the Arctic explains, all our efforts are directed at one goal: creating a sustainable future for Arctic environments on the land and in the ocean.

Until recently, the Arctic was one of the largest untouched, unchanged places on Earth, with bountiful ecosystems, unique species and people with long-standing cultural values. But environmental changes are happening here at faster rates and with more negative results than predicted. The root cause is human-induced climate change, an ill wind that threatens species, habitats and people.

The Arctic is huge, larger in area than the U.S. and Canada combined. Working here, WWF is unique: We are the only conservation organization with the size and scope – and multinational ties – to produce results at all levels across the region, from native indigenous communities and national governments to industries and businesses from around the world with an eye on the extraordinary natural resources of the Arctic.

What you find at the heart of all our work is people. WWF teams are working with partners in eight Arctic countries: Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the U.S. They are backed by WWF experts across our global Network in areas ranging from species conservation to climate change, from anthropology to economics, from international energy policies to sustainable development. As the only conservation organization with pan- Arctic coverage, we have excellent access to decision makers and the potential to change agendas in favor of conservation. Beyond establishing an influential voice in policy circles, we have secured tens of millions of acres in protected areas and improved natural resource management in multiple sites across the region.

A Seat at the Arctic Table The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental body that promotes cooperation among the Arctic States, indigenous communities such as the Aleuts and the Inuit, and others. Of particular importance to the council are issues of sustainable development and environmental protection. The council admits a limited number of observers including intergovernmental and interparliamentary organizations and nongovernmental organizations.

WWF has permanent observer status on the Arctic Council. We are in the best of company here: Other permanent observers with a conservation and development focus are IUCN (the World Conservation Union), with its 84 country members, and UNDP and UNEP, the UN’s development and environmental programs.

Arctic Citizens as Conservationists More than 60 ethnic groups live across the Arctic, where WWF has established extensive and numerous protected areas over the last 20 years. The traditional knowledge and direct experience of Arctic communities and indigenous people are critical elements in our success here. Our partnerships with them allow us to provide new knowledge gained from our ongoing research programs and to transfer effective solutions from our conservation work in other parts of the world.

For example, in 2007, we completed a two-year project to map suitable habitats for bowhead whales. An important component of this project was the Inuit Knowledge Bowhead Study which identified areas known or predicted to be of high importance to the whales. To this we added historic whaling data, government and industry surveys, and oceanographic records. We identified 21 areas in Canadian waters that we predict as the most suitable for bowhead whales and therefore the most important areas to protect. The results will support efforts to have these areas identified as critical habitat so the whales can benefit from appropriate legislated protection.

We have helped residents in four villages on the Russian Arctic coast deal with that fact that, as sea ice shrinks, polar bears are spending more time on land in search for food. Using the knowledge and experience of native communities we have worked with in Alaska, we have helped the Russian villages create their own polar bear patrols, teams of particularly brave and welltrained people tasked with frightening away approaching – and dangerous – bears.

Living Off the Seas Commercial fishermen across the Arctic countries make major contributions to their national economies. But overfishing has led to the decline of fish species, changes in marine food webs and fisheries crises. Across the land and seascape, we’re working with local fishing communities to address the concerns that affect the wildlife on which they and others depend.

In the western Bering Sea, for example, our partnerships with the salmon fishing sector are aimed at improving fishing practices – with results that will affect salmon populations in both the U.S. and the Russian portions of this shared ecosystem. To do so, we collaborate with fishermen, retailers, scientists, government agencies and communities to improve management of this international sea. We also support environmental education, working with adults and with the children who, in the future, will serve as conservationists and leaders of the region.

Brothers Vladilen and Sergey Kavriy live in the Vankarem village off Russia’s Chukchi Sea. They are part of the community patrol WWF helped establish to protect humans from polar bears moving inland searching for food as their sea ice habitat decreases.
© WWF/Margaret Williams

The Impact of Industry As seas ice melts and previously unreachable areas become more accessible to oil and gas exploration and shipping, new risks present new threats to both wildlife and the native peoples who rely on the Arctic’s shallow and biologically productive coastal seas for their subsistence. Increased ship traffic, noise pollution from seismic testing and vessels, and increased human disturbance add stress to an ecosystem already jeopardized by massive climate-induced impacts. The ultimate threat in the case of oil development is a spill; around the world, we have learned the hard way that containing oil in icy marine environments is a losing battle.

“From Alaska to Norway, we’ve seen time and again that the technology to contain and clean up an oil spill at sea does not yet exist,” said Margaret Williams, WWF’s managing director for the Bering Sea and Kamchatka. “One spill could mean disaster not only for polar bears, but for the entire ecosystem on which native Alaskan communities depend.”

WWF works directly with these communities, such as the Inuvialuit in Canada’s Beaufort Sea, to protect the future of Arctic waters by identifying and reserving key marine areas. At the same time, we target governments, international financing institutions and even some oil companies to reduce or eliminate direct, place-based threats to biodiversity from specific oil and gas and infrastructure projects. We are also working to redirect large-scale investments into renewable energy, rather than into new hydrocarbon projects.

Sealing the Fate of the Arctic The Arctic may be the single most important region on Earth, through its role in regulating the world’s climate and storing huge amounts of carbon deep in the ice. But its connections to the rest of the world extend well beyond: The vast lands and waters here supply fish, energy and other resources to many tens of millions of people.

The next 10 years may well seal the fate of the Arctic. At WWF, we want it to become a shining example of what can be achieved through collective effort. Because of our global Network, we are able to work across the entire region to find solutions that truly work. The role we play is critical to the wildlife and the people of the Arctic, and by extension to people everywhere.