Adaptive management

 Document and protect essential habitat:

• Action 4 - Disseminate essential polar bear habitat information broadly to Arctic communities and industries. Work with communities and industries to apply the appropriate habitat protection measures so that anthropogenic development and expansion do not adversely affect habitat
• Action 5 - Conduct research into application of the concept of carrying capacity of polar bear subpopulations to polar bear management

Consider the impact of diet changes:

• Action 6 - Identify and monitor changes in the availability and use of prey species and other food sources when making management decisions

Consider the current and future impacts of disease and parasite:

• Action 8 - Ensure that information on the impacts of disease and parasites in bears is considered when making management decision
• Action 9 - Communicate disease findings and predicted disease prevalence information, as well as provide guidelines for consumption of polar bear meat by people and sled dogs, as appropriate

Best Management Practices

• Action 10 - Identify additional BMPs that need to be developed, determine who is best positioned to develop them and support this action as appropriate
• Action 11 - Examine the efficacy of BMPs as they relate to polar bear conservation and revise as appropriate

Mineral and energy resource exploration and development:

• Action 14 - Work with appropriate authorities to develop the necessary emergency response plans
• Action 15 - Provide guidance to the spill response authorities for the handling of bearsthat have come into contact with oil
• Action 16 - Compile, and prepare as necessary, international, national, and local BMPs for mineral and energy exploration and development

Shipping:

• Action 21 - Examine shipping routes in essential habitat and adjacent areas, and assess the threat posed by expected activities over the next 10 years, and identify appropriate responses, as required

Monitoring and Research

Climate Change Research:

• Action 24 - Validate models based on empirical data and use them to identify high-priority information needs
• Action 25 - Monitor and quantify changes in sea ice habitat for polar bears using satellite observations or other associated data

Obtain information on all Polar Bear Subpopulations:

• Action 26 - Develop subpopulation-specific research plans, which include a priori study design considerations, based on clearly stated objectives and applied conservation needs and in light of limited resources for research and variation in the ecological and management status of the 19 polar bear subpopulations
• Action 28 - Coordinate joint research studies of shared subpopulations and of adjacent subpopulations with significant movement of animals
• Action 31 - Improve methods to quantify and mitigate potential bias in estimates of population status and trend
• Action 32 - Improve methods to use all available information to address management questions

Prey abundance and Other Food Sources:

• Action 36 - Evaluate the relationships between sea ice, prey abundance and distribution, and polar bear vital rates
• Action 37 - Monitor abundance, availability and types of polar bear prey and analyze data for seasonal and regional characteristics and trends
• Action 38 - Examine the importance of other food sources to the polar bear diet today and those anticipated over the next 10 years
• Action 39 - Monitor the distribution and abundance of ringed seal over time and space
• Action 40 - Monitor polar bear diets and nutritional status over time and space
• Action 41 - Design studies to reassess areas with existing data for comparative purposes and to assess, at intervals, the effect of climate warming, changes in sea ice, and changes in oceanography that influence the prey species of polar bears

Contaminants and Pollution Research:

• Action 43 - Examine the impact of contaminants and pollution on polar bear life history characteristics
• Action 44 - Where appropriate, monitor contaminants and pollution to determine temporal and spatial trends, modes of transmission etc
• Action 45 - Investigate how contaminants interact in order to establish cause-and-effect relationships and assess the hazards from exposure to multiple contaminants
• Action 46 - Periodically monitor for the presence of new contaminants/pollutants (i.e., those not previously detected in polar bear samples)

Disease Research:

• Action 47- Compile the current state of knowledge of how parasites and diseases affect polar bears
• Action 48 - Establish sampling methodologies and common protocols to screen for relevant diseases/parasites, and monitor changes over time (recommended sampling period is every 10 years)
• Action 49 - Develop baseline occurrence estimates of identified diseases/parasites in each of the 19 subpopulations
• Action 50 - Investigate the relationships between disease occurrence and changes to sea ice, feeding ecology, nutritional stress, contaminant exposure, etc.
• Action 51 - Measure the impact of diseases/parasites on polar bears at the individual and population level
• Action 52 - Establish reference intervals for key biomarkers to monitor individual and population health

Communication and Outreach

 Website:

• Action 53 - Establish and maintain a Range States’ website to disseminate information - Partially modified to Action CCC-A4
• Action 54 - Produce biennial progress reports for release to the public (starting in 2017)

Targeted Outreach:

• Action - 55 - Develop and implement a communications plan that includes regular information updates about the outcomes of this Plan

Educational Materials:

• Action - 57 - Develop educational material on polar bear biology and status, harvest management regimes, levels and control of international trade under the CITES and other topics of interest for use in international forums

Performance Measurement:

• Action 62 - After the full 10-year period, a final report of results will be made, including an evaluation of the Plan, which will determine the need for renewal of the Plan
• Action 64 - Explore and develop options for making the operations of the Range States more standardized and/or formal. A working group will be created to develop options for consideration by the Range States in 2017. Options should include a full range from formally adopting rules of procedure and protocols to consideration of a Secretariat, and associated costs and funding options to implement the CAP
• Action 65 - IUCN/SSC PBSG to consider all the science-related actions in the CAP and to prioritize them into two and ten year actions with a report back to the Range States for their consideration. The report will include possible funding sources and applications will have been made, where appropriate.