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Ruling the Waves Or Waiving the Rules?

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Ruling the Waves Or Waiving the Rules? MAGAZINE The Great Upwelling 6 No. 2 Building common interests 12 2016 THE CIRCLE Ecosystem-based management 17 RuLING THE WAVES or WAIVING THE RuLES? PUBLISHED BY THE WWF GLOBAL ARCTIC PROGRAMME TheCircle0216.indd 1 27.05.2016 10.59 THE CIRCLE 2.2016 ARCTIC MARINE GOVERNANCE Contents EDITORIAL Navigating marine governance 3 IN BRIEF 4 KUUPIK VANDERSEE KLEIST Community consultations on “The Great Upwelling” 6 KANAKO HASEGAWA The regional seas agreements: lessons learned 9 PaUL BERKMAN and ALEXANDER N. VYLEGZHANIN Building common Interests 12 ALIStair GRAHAM The conundrum: conserving biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction 14 BETSY BAKER Ecosystem based management: a flexible tool for stewardship 17 ERIK MOLENAAR The evolution of the Arctic Council and the Arctic Council System 19 Options for Arctic marine cooperation: the WWF vision 22 THE PICTURE 24 The Circle is published quar- Publisher: Editor in Chief: Clive Tesar, COVER: terly by the WWF Global Arctic WWF Global Arctic Programme [email protected] A magnificent profusion of life as a Programme. Reproduction and 8th floor, 275 Slater St., Ottawa, humpback whale dives amidst thou- quotation with appropriate credit ON, Canada K1P 5H9. Managing Editor: Becky Rynor, sands of seabirds. Alaska. 2005. The are encouraged. Articles by non- Tel: +1 613-232-8706 [email protected] NOAA Ship OSCAR DYSON is in the affiliated sources do not neces- Fax: +1 613-232-4181 distance. sarily reflect the views or policies Design and production: Photo: Dr. Phillip Clapham, NMFS/AKFSC/NMML – Creative Commons of WWF. Send change of address Internet: www.panda.org/arctic Film & Form/Ketill Berger, and subscription queries to the [email protected] ABOVE: U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker address on the right. We reserve ISSN 2073-980X = The Circle Healy cuts through thick multiyear sea the right to edit letters for publica- Printed by St. Joseph Communications ice in the Arctic Ocean. July 6, 2011. tion, and assume no responsibil- Date of publication: Photo: NASA/Kathryn Hansen – Creative Commons ity for unsolicited material. May 2016. Thank you for your interest in The Circle. Many of our subscribers have moved to an e-version. To receive an electronic copy in your email instead of a paper 2 The Circle 2.2016 copy, please write to us at [email protected] and help us reduce our costs and footprint. TheCircle0216.indd 2 27.05.2016 15.52 THE CIRCLE 2.2016 EDITORIAL Navigating marine governance THE ARCTIC COUNCIL was set up twenty years ago with a states’ authority in the Arctic area beyond national juris- focus on conservation and sustainable development in diction, and the role of non-Arctic states. Some states the Arctic region including its marine realm. Since then from outside the Arctic have long experience of joint we have seen the dizzying downward spiral of Arctic management of marine areas. Kanako Hasegawa shares sea ice due to climate change. We have seen fish stocks UNEP’s experience of regional seas agreements and les- moving around the Arctic, fleeing warming waters or sons learned. Alistair Graham examines those portions chasing moving food sources. We have seen the cata- of the Arctic Ocean beyond national jurisdiction, and how strophic failure of a deep sea drilling rig as well as nations international tools already developed or in development and businesses preparing for a future where the Arctic may interact with those being developed by Arctic states, Ocean is more liquid more of the time. To deal with these a theme also explored by Eric Molenaar. changes, the Arctic Council must change. The Council Governments are not the only entities with an inter- has laid much groundwork for responding to changing est in management of the seas. Kuupik Kleist writes of conditions with its reports and policy recommendations. an Inuit-led commission examining the An evolving Council now needs to Pikialasorsuaq focus on implementing decisions and (North Water recommendations collectively made MUTUALLY SUPPORT- Polynya) and by Arctic states including the Arctic IVE IMPLEMENTATION involving Inuit in Marine Strategic Plan, in an effective management of and collaborative way. This requires MECHANISMS ARE UR- the marine envi- new approaches to Arctic marine GENTLY NEEDED TO ronment. Betsy cooperation. Baker focuses on Dr. ALEXANDER SHESTAKOV At time of publication, the Arctic SECURE A SUSTAINABLE ecosystem-based is Director of the Council’s Task Force on Arctic Marine management as WWF Global Arctic FUTURE FOR THE ARCTIC Programme Cooperation is developing options for the basic guiding cooperation mechanisms for the Arc- MARINE ENVIRONMENT principle for any tic marine environment. Arctic states management system in the Arctic. and Permanent Participants will elaborate on a number She underscores Indigenous participation and knowledge of questions to be answered before proposing a working are key to such management. instrument. Those questions include identification and We also present WWF’s proposal for Arctic marine acquisition of knowledge inputs; coordination of steward- cooperation within the structure and current mandate ship efforts at various scales; area-based management of the Arctic Council. The options respond to many Task measures; relations with other international marine instru- Force questions. They also support an opportunity for ments (and lessons learned from their operations and expe- open discussion about the future of the Arctic Council rience); scope (legal and geographical) of the instrument; and potential improvements in its current structure and organizing principles within the structure of the Arctic efficiency as related to implementation of the Council’s Council and how that structure may need to be changed. recommendations. With the change in the Arctic Ocean Authors in this issue provide context and insight on over the past two decades, coordinated and mutually sup- some of those questions to help inform discussions at the portive implementation mechanisms are urgently needed Task Force on Arctic Marine Cooperation. Paul Berkman to secure a sustainable future for the Arctic marine envi- and Alexander Vylegzhanin explore questions of Arctic ronment. l The Circle 2.2016 3 TheCircle0216.indd 3 27.05.2016 10.59 IN BRIEF only treat the symptom, not global reduction in green- Polar bear the underlying problem, says house gas emissions, a move Canada preparing Gitte Seeberg, Secretary Gen- to 100 per cent renewable conflict at record eral of WWF-Denmark. “The energy by 2050, and for poli- claim to Arctic root cause is climate change cies that help Arctic commu- high in Greenland and we should do our utmost nities and wildlife cope with Continental shelf to slow it down.” the consequences of climate A YEAR OF RECORD WARM WWF is advocating for a disruption. CANADA PLANS to submit its temperatures and lower than Arctic continental shelf claim normal sea ice has led to in 2018 and is expected to unprecedented numbers of include the North Pole. Cana- polar bears venturing into dian officials acknowledge Greenland’s communities. this will overlap with both A WWF-supported patrol in Russian and Danish submis- the community of Ittoqqor- sions that also claim owner- toormiit has encountered 20 ship of the planet’s northern- polar bears in town in the most point. past three months. That’s Under the United Nations twice the number of conflicts Convention on the Law of recorded throughout Green- the Sea (UNCLOS), which land in 2012. Canada ratified in 2003, all Polar bears prefer to coastal states have a conti- spend their time on the sea nental shelf extending 200 ice, where they can hunt for nautical miles (370 km) from seals. Longer ice-free seasons coastal baselines. They can force them onto land and also extend their claim by into communities to search Exploring Last Ice Area online 150 nautical miles (278 km) for food. The polar bear beyond 200 nautical miles if patrol does daily surveillance LANCASTER SOUND, a For more than 30 the shelf is a natural prolon- during peak periods and region in Canada’s high years, communities have gation of their landmass. chases bears away so they Arctic at the southern been working to protect However, there are cir- aren’t shot in self-defense. edge of the Last Ice Area, the region from indus- cumstances where a coastal However, the number of is being brought closer to trial development. WWF state can claim even further polar bears shot to protect people around the world is asking the Canadian than 350 nautical miles, said life and property has also thanks to a new interac- government to formally Mary-Lynn Dickson, head of increased. 2014 was a record tive map (http://lancas- announce protection for Canada’s UNCLOS Program. year, with at least 12 bears tersound.wwf.ca). The the area and to update “In the case of submarine killed in Greenland because map contains exclusive its records to reflect oil elevations, if a coastal state they posed an imminent dan- footage, stories about the exploration leases in the can prove that submarine ger. WWF expects even more region and rich mapping region that should have elevation is part of its conti- polar bear encounters this features. expired in 1979. nental landmass, and if that summer. The area is slated for The Last Ice Area is the feature extended beyond 350 “We have had a winter protection as a National only Arctic region expect- nautical miles from their with extremely little sea ice Marine Conservation ed to retain its summer baselines, the coastal state and an early melt, and so Area, but it also has sea ice until 2050, mak- could delineate an outer limit we expect a new record this disputed oil exploration ing it a critically impor- past 350 nautical miles,” season,” says WWF biologist leases within the pro- tant zone for the future of Dickson said.
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