Description

8. CIRCUMPOLAR ACTION PLAN

8.3 CAP Objective 3: Ensure the conservation of essential habitat for polar bears

Ruth Milkereit

This presentation reviews CAP Objective 3, which focused on ensuring the conservation of essential habitat for polar bears.

The Circumpolar Action Plan (CAP) identifies climate change and the associated reductions in the extent and composition of sea ice to be the greatest threat to polar bear persistence. Polar bears rely on sea ice habitat as a platform to hunt seals and denning habitat to reproduce. It is likely that climate change will result in a reduction to the quantity, quality, and availability of sea ice and the identification and protection of maternity denning habitats is crucial. A reduction in the quantity and quality of essential (or commonly used) winter, summer, and denning habitat because of climate change is a threat to polar bears.

The presentation reviews how the work completed under CAP Objective resulted in maps identifying essential (or commonly used) winter, summer, and denning polar bear habitat as a first step towards determining and understanding which areas are currently protected, not currently protected and what level(s) or mechanism(s) of protection (e.g. regional, national, international, Indigenous, other) are in place in the areas that are protected.

The presentation highlights the need for continued progress in furthering our understanding the levels of protection associated with global polar bear essential or commonly used habitat.