Arctic Bulletin No 4.05 • PUBLISHED BY THE WWF INTERNATIONAL ARCTIC PROGRAMME Clean coast boost p. 6 Northern youth p. 11–12 Arctic melt p. 14–15 Bering focus p. 16–17 Toxic killer whales p.9,p.19–20
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ArcticBulletin
No 4.05 • P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E W W F I N T E R N AT I O N A L A R C T I C P RO G R A M M E
Clean coast boost p. 6
Northern youth p. 11–12
Arctic melt p. 14–15
Bering focus p. 16–17
Toxic killer whales p.9,p.19–20
2 WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
Publisher:WWF International Arctic ProgrammePO Box 6784 St Olavs plass N-0130 Oslo, Norway Ph: +47 22 03 65 00Fax: +47 22 20 06 66 Internet: www.panda.org/arctic
The Arctic Bulletinis published quarterly by the WWFInternational Arctic Programme.Reproduction and quotation withappropriate credit are encouraged.Articles by non-affiliated sources do notnecessarily reflect the views or policiesof WWF. Send change of address andsubscription queries to the address onthe right. We reserve the right to editletters for publication, and assume noresponsibility for unsolicited material.Please include name, title and addresswith all correspondence.
ProgrammeDirector:Samantha [email protected]
Editor:Julian [email protected]
Assistant editor:Nigel [email protected]
Contents
Design and production:dEDBsign/Ketill [email protected]
Date of publication:December, 2005ISSN 1023-9081
Cover: Killer whalesPhoto: Hans Wolkers
Printed at Merkur-Trykk ASon 100% recycled paper.
�Montreal progress p. 4–5
�The future of oil and gas in the Arctic p. 6–7
� Satellite decision pending p. 9
�Northern youth take a stand p. 11–12
�Arctic melt accelerating p. 14–15
�Polar bear – a toxic indicator? p. 18
�Linking Mesopotamia to the Arctic p. 21–22
�Book reviews p. 22–23
� Forthcoming arctic meetings & events p. 23
� Sea ice extent – 1979 to 2005 p. 24
�Auk clue to climate impact p. 14–15
�Mackenzie update p. 8
�Caribou numbers decline p. 10
�Bear legislation p. 8
� Safer shipping in Bering Sea p. 16–17
�A remote refuge in the Bering Sea p. 16–17
�Climate stories from the Russian Arctic p. 12–13
�Gold of Yakutia Republic p. 10
�Conference aims to safeguard Barents p. 6
�Clean coast boost p. 7Killer whales most toxic p. 9
Killer whales’ toxic load p. 19–20 �
�Prince Albert II of Monaco to visit North Pole p. 4–5
WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05 3
A new sea
Editorial
Climate change is creating a new sea in the
North, melting away the ice that has
protected arctic waters for thousands of
years. The last four years have seen end-of-summer
sea ice whose extent was 20 percent less than the
average for the previous 22 years. That is equivalent
to 1.3 million square kilometers, or 500,000 square
miles. Researchers now believe that the Arctic Ocean
will be ice-free during the summer well before the
end of this century. This will create a sea of opportu-
nities, but also huge environmental and social chal-
lenges.
Major changes are taking place beneath the ocean’s
surface as well. Fish stocks in the North Sea are
already moving north as the oceans warm up, and
southern species, such as blue mussels, are already
appearing near Spitsbergen, in the northern Barents
Sea. In the Bering Sea, warmer waters and fishing
pressure have caused a dramatic shift in the ecosystem,
with crashes of some marine mammal, crab and
seabird populations, of pollock and salmon. Over
time, scientists predict that existing fisheries will
disappear and new ones emerge in new locations in
the Arctic.
In the face of these changes, our first priority must
be to cut CO emissions as deeply and quickly as
possible. Rapid climate change in the Arctic threatens
not only polar bears, but also people in the Arctic
and in the rest of the world. By cutting CO emis-
sions, scientists believe that we can avoid some of the
worst changes in the future. But some of the
processes now in motion in the Arctic will continue
during our lifetimes and perhaps beyond.
Governments and industry seem poised to seize
the economic opportunities of melting sea ice and a
new sea. In Alaska, Norway and Russia, governments
are pushing arctic offshore oil and gas development.
Shipping companies are investing in ice-going
vessels. And disputes over arctic marine territory, and
fish resources, are heating up.
But who’s ready to protect the arctic environment
and the people who depend on it? Some arctic fish-
eries are already threatened by overfishing and illegal
fishing. More shipping traffic will increase the risk to
vulnerable coastlines and wildlife populations. And
oil development will bring not only more CO emis-
sions, but also huge risks in what will always be a
harsh environment.
A lot can be done nationally and
bilaterally, and by the private sector.
This includes better fisheries manage-
ment and monitoring; marine
management zones that keep risky
activities out of sensitive areas; and
improved ship routing, quality and
monitoring. In the end, however,
these measures won’t be enough.
Issues such as High Seas protected
areas, large-scale illegal fishing with
sales of illegally caught fish outside
the region, harvesting from fish
stocks that migrate between national waters, ships
sailing under flags of convenience, international
transport of hazardous materials through sensitive
areas and accident response, can only be solved
multilaterally.
Arctic seas are worth conserving. They have incred-
ible natural, cultural and economic values, including
some of the world’s most productive fisheries, the
biggest seabird colonies, cold-water coral reefs and
marine mammal ranging from polar bears to fur
seals. Resources from the sea have provided food,
wealth and the basis for culture to people along the
arctic’s coasts for hundreds and thousands of years.
A year and a half ago, WWF called for arctic
governments to consider a regional marine agree-
ment to conserve these marine values, and manage
any development. The conventional wisdom is that a
new convention is a political impossibility. But busi-
ness as usual is clearly not a possibility either. Which
leaders will have the vision to conserve, as well as
exploit?
SAMANTHASMITHDirector,WWF InternationalArctic Programme [email protected]
4 News WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
TOURISM ASSOCIATIONA new Sustainable Arctic TourismAssociation will continue the ground-breaking work of a three-year project tolook at sustainable tourism in the Arctic.The SMART project, which ended inDecember, set out to empower the arctictourism sector to more sustainablepractices through capacity building andcertification.A final SMART workshop forentrepreneurs, authorities, educationalinstitutions and WWF took place in Finlandin October.The WWF International ArcticProgramme was the only environmentalNGO involved in the project. Miriam Geitz,its tourism officer, will be a member of theSustainable Arctic Tourism Association.
BEAR LAW SUITRepresentatives of three environmentalgroups have claimed that the USGovernment is failing to curb the globalwarming that is slowly destroying polarbears’ habitat, possibly leading to theirextinction.The groups filed a petition lastFebruary to have the polar bear formallydeclared a threatened species – a step theysaid would require the Government to tryand cut down the toxic industrial by-products that are causing global warming,and the polar meltdown.
Under the federal Endangered SpeciesAct, the Department of the Interior mustrespond, but the petition has yet to beprocessed. Greenpeace, the Arizona-basedCenter for Biological Diversity and theNew York-based Natural ResourcesDefense Council in late October sent anotice of intent to sue to the Departmentof the Interior.The government has 60days to respond before a suit is filed infederal court.
BIG OIL PURSUES DRILLING ONALASKA’S COASTThe US Mineral Management Services(MMS) is developing a new five-year planfor pursuing offshore oil and gas leasesalong the US coast.While no decisionshave yet been made, the BushAdministration has been indicating that itmay lift the ban on drilling in coastal areas,like Bristol Bay and the Chukchi Sea coast,that have been withdrawn fromconsideration for offshore oil and gasdevelopment since 1995.WWF and otherenvironmental organizations havepresented the MMS with formal commentsexpressing great concern about thispotential change to the area’s exemptstatus.WWF will continue to monitor thesituation and hopes many otherconservation groups, fisheries interests,and communities will also join in taking astrong stance to protect Bristol Bay andother sensitive sites adjacent to the BeringSea.
Real progress was made at the
Montreal climate talks inDecember as governments
finalised the ground rules for thefirst phase of the Kyoto Protocoland set the stage for discussions tofurther cut carbon emissions after2012, says WWF.
Ministers agreed to start talksthat will deliver deeper reductionsin carbon emissions. The deal alsoopened the door to broader partic-ipation from developing countriesin the future.
The Montreal conferencedisplayed the groundswell ofsupport for real climate action.
This was especially visiblethrough the participation of anunparalleled number of mayors,youth, business leaders and electedrepresentatives.
The attempt by the US, and laterRussia, to scupper the talks failed
when a broad coalition includingmajor developing countries, Japan,Canada and the EU rebuffed it.
In Montreal, representativesfrom the Inuit announced that theyhad filed a petition against theUnited States in the Washingtonoffices of the Inter-AmericanCommission on Human Rights, abody examining claims of rightsabuses in the Americas.
The Inuit CircumpolarConference (ICC) petition assertsthat unabated US emissions ofheat-trapping greenhouse gases arethreatening Inuit traditions andurges the Commission to press theUS to curb the gases.
Temperatures in the Arctic arerising at about twice the globalaverage.
The petition was filed by SheilaWatt-Cloutier on behalf of the ICC,of which Watt-Cloutier is theelected Chair.
If the Commission rules infavour of the ICC, it could refer theUS to the Inter-American Court ofHuman Rights for a legal judge-ment. Both the Commission andthe Court work within the frame-work of the American Conventionon Human Rights.
The US has not ratified theConvention, but a ruling would stillbe symbolic, according to the ICC.
To read more about the petition,go to: www.earthjustice.org
Montreal progress
JenniferMorgan,director ofthe WWFInternationalClimateChangeProgramme.
His Serene Highness PrinceAlbert II of Monaco willembark on an expedition tothe North Pole in April 2006.
He hopes to reach theNorth Pole by dogsled fromthe Russian base of Borneo,around 100 kilometres away.
The hope is that theexpedition will draw muchneeded global attention to
the Arctic and the hugethreats that it faces, particu-larly from climate change.
In 1905, Prince Albert I ofMonaco, a pioneer ofoceanography and the great-great-grandfather of PrinceAlbert II, was among the firstto explore regions ofSvalbard in the Arctic.
Photos taken in 1905 and
Prince Albert II of Monaco to visitNorth Pole
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more recently show a drasticdecline in the size of theLilljehook Glacier.Around 40percent of the glacier hasmelted in the last one 100years.
WWF is supporting theexpedition in an advisory roleon arctic conservation issues.For more information, visit theMonaco Arctic Expeditionwebsite:www.monaco.arctic-expedition.mc.
Julian Woolford,[email protected]
WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05 News 5
A LANGUAGE FOR CLIMATECHANGEInuit translators and elders from across theArctic met recently to develop standardlanguage to allow speakers of northernaboriginal languages to talk about theaccelerating global warming of theirhomeland. David Akeeagok, of Nunavut’sDepartment of Culture, Language, Elders andYouth, said:“We don’t have any terminologiesper se in Inuktitut right now when we focuson climate change.What we want to do isensure that there are standard words inEnglish and Inuktitut, for climate changeespecially.That way the hunters can talk tothe scientists on the same wavelength, whereboth of them have very valuable informationthat they’d like to share”
NWT PARK EXPANDSThe Canadian Government recentlyexpanded the Tuktut Nogait National Parkin Canada’s Northwest Territories.TuktutNogait, means “caribou calves” in the Siglikdialect of Inuvialuktun, the western ArcticInuit language.The park is home to the BlueNose caribou herd, musk oxen, grizzly bears,wolves and wolverines. It is also the locationof 360 archaeological sites, important toSahtu Dene people. Raymond Taniton,representing the Sahtu Dene and Métis ofthe Sahtu Settlement Area, said:“We haveensured that the calving grounds of theBluenose caribou herd, which have played animportant role in the lives of our people forthousands of years, will be protected.” Thepark is 170 kilometres north of the ArcticCircle and, with the latest expansion of1850 square kilometres, now totals 16,340square kilometres.
NEW ARCTIC PORTIqaluit, on Canada’s Baffin Island, wants tobuild Canada’s first deep-water arcticseaport, a facility that proponents say wouldboost both economic development andefforts to enforce northern sovereignty.Thecity plans to present its proposal to boththe territorial and federal governments thiswinter when initial engineering plans are tobegin. If funding is secured, constructionwould begin in 2008.
The $49-million port could be operatingas early as 2009.As climate change graduallyreduces the amount of ice in northernwaters, many observers have pointed to thelikelihood of greatly increased ship trafficthrough arctic sea lanes. But Canada is theonly arctic country that doesn’t have adeep-water port along its northern coast-line. Iqaluit’s proposed port would operatefrom the end of June through the end ofNovember. It would offer a single berth bigenough to accommodate oil tankers, cargoand cruise ships and would also serve as asmall-craft harbour.
A special Arctic Day in Montrealhelped build awareness of howclimate is impacting the Arctic.Hosted by the Canadian
Government, the Day includedspeeches, discussions, traditionalfood and cultural performances.
Julian Woolford, [email protected]
At theconference,WWF high-lighted theneed to savethe Arcticfrom climatechange.
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6 Oil and gas WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
Plans to reduce the impact of oiland gas development in theBarents region were at the
centre of an international confer-ence in Murmansk in November.
The conference, “Oil and GasIndustry and SustainableDevelopment of the BarentsRegion”, was organised by WWFwith the Northern Alliance, Gaia,the Kola Biodiversity Centre,Bellona, Nature and Youth, andSvanhovd Environmental Center.
Its aim was to map out how tominimise environmental andeconomic damage, and maximisebenefits to the communities aspetroleum development goesahead.
Delegates from the Valdezcommunity in Alaska shared theirexperiences about how to set up apublic trust fund to developimproved safety systems at oilcompanies’ installations, to thebenefit of surrounding communi-ties. After the disastrous ExxonValdez oil spill in 1989, the so-calledPrince William Sound RegionalCitizens’Advisory Council was set upto this end, with funding from the oilcompanies and oil transporters.
Participants at the seminarurged the Murmansk Oblast
Government and Duma to studythe organisational and practicalexperience of this Alaskan council.
Russian authorities were alsourged to study experiences fromtheir own country, such as theinteractions between the Sakhalinemergency departments and thepetroleum companies involved inactivities on the far-eastern Russianisland.
The WWF and Nature andYouth proposal to establish petro-leum-free areas in the Barents Seato protect the most valuable andvulnerable biological resources wasalso given serious attention.
Delegates agreed that it is neces-sary to discuss and create a systemto control economic activity in thewestern part of the Russian Arctic,and to assess the ecological impactsof planned activities in the region.
Delegates came from a widerange of institutions, including theMurmansk Oblast Duma, theMurmansk City Council, localauthorities in Russia, Norway andthe US, petroleum companies,experts in public participationissues, and NGO leaders.
Tonje Folkestad,[email protected]
Conference aims tosafeguard Barents
Rapidly changing economiccircumstances associatedwith the increased global
demand for oil and gas, technolog-ical advances, and not least thepossibility of improved access toarctic resources as a result ofclimate change, mean that theprospect of increased oil and gasdevelopment in the Arctic is areality. Such development can beundertaken in a responsiblemanner to both minimise impactson the environment and respect the
interests of arctic populations.Against this background, the
Arctic Council’s Assessment of Oiland Gas Activities in the Arctic(OGA) will be a major focus ofattention during the Arctic CouncilMinisterial meeting that is set totake place in Russia at the end ofOctober 2006.
Originally conceived as an updateto the 1997 Arctic Monitoring andAssessment Programme (AMAP)assessment of pollution effects of oiland gas development in the Arctic,
the scope of the OGA has beenconsiderably expanded to addressother issues, including the socio-economic effects of arctic oil and gasdevelopment.
A group of experts established toproduce the OGA is currentlyworking to meet the challengesinvolved in obtaining necessarydata and information from severalcountries.
As part of the OGA process,stakeholders, including industry,NGOs, and indigenous peoples
The future of oil and gas in the Arctic
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WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05 Oil and gas 7
organisations, have been invited tocontribute to the OGA. To facilitatethis, AMAP arranged anInternational Symposium on Oiland Gas Activities in the Arctic in StPetersburg, Russia, as part of theSeventh International Conferenceand Exhibition of Offshore Oil andGas Development, a large industry-sponsored event.
The Symposium sessionsreflected the content of the OGAand were intended to bothcommunicate information aboutthe OGA and also encourage rele-vant stakeholders to provide theirinformation.
An indigenous people’s side
event was well attended, reflectingthe strong interest of the arcticindigenous communities in anissue that has considerable poten-tial to affect their lives in positiveand negative ways.
The OGA will be an importantfirst step in establishing a circum-polar political context for the futureof oil and gas development in theArctic.
For more information visitwww.amap.no
Simon WilsonArctic Monitoring and Assessment
The likelihood of protectingthe vulnerable NorwegianBarents Sea coast from the
worst ravages of an oil spill wereincreased in November when WWFtrained the first group of oil spillclean-up volunteers in northernNorway.
The training programme, whichhas already been introduced byWWF in Finland and Murmansk inRussia, aims to enhance the oil spillcontingency plans in the Barentsregion by establishing voluntaryoil-spill response groups that canassist in the clean-up operationsafter oil spills.
The transport of oil and otherpetroleum products in the BarentsSea region is growing rapidly. In2004 the amount of oil exportedfrom north-west Russia, andshipped through the Barents Seaand the White Sea, amounted to12.6 million tons.
The transport could increase to22.75 million tons in 2006 andcould reach as much as 150 milliontons by 2012.This dramatically
increases the potential risk of oilspills.
When an oil spill reaches theshore, manpower is normally themain limiting factor for effectiveclean-up operations. It is estimatedthat volunteers and fishermenhandled about 70 percent of the oilclean up after the Prestige accident.
Nina Jensen, in charge of the‘Clean Coast!’ project in Norway,said: “Cleaning the shoreline is avery time- and resource-consumingactivity, and it requires competentpersonnel and basic safety equip-ment. There is a great need formore trained personnel who can bemobilised on short notice, and forproper equipment that can ensuresafe and efficient operations in theregion.”
WWF’s Clean Coast!programme offers a professional,practical and cost-free trainingcourse for volunteers. The courseruns for three days, and gives abroad insight into oil-spill clean-upstrategies, including organisation,execution and general knowledgeabout the most common strategiesfor handling oil-spills in the openocean, coastal areas and shorelines.
The participants also get prac-tical experience through testingseveral types of equipment andthrough participating in simulatedoil-spill situations. The courses arecarried out in cooperation withseveral organisations, includingfishermen’s associations, theNorwegian Coastal Administration,Russian oil spill authorities, theBarents Secretariat andNORLENSE. The aim is to trainbetween 200 to 300 Russian andNorwegian volunteers per year.
Nina JensenProject manager, Clean Coast!
Anne-Beth Skrede,Advisor Petroleum and Shipping
Dag Nagoda,Co-ordinator Barents Sea programme
Clean coast boost
A new WWF programme willestablish voluntary oil-spillresponse groups that canassist in the clean-up opera-tions after oil spills.
8 News WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
Legislation to protect polar bears
in Alaska and Chukotka innorth-east Russia is being
crafted by Republican AlaskaSenator Ted Stevens, chairman ofthe US Senate CommerceCommittee.
The US and Russia first agreed toa conservation plan, the US-RussiaPolar Bear Agreement, in October2000 to protect the shared polar
bear population. This new legisla-tion is seen as the next stage in thisprocess.
Conservationists hope it willprompt Russian authorities toimplement their part of theAgreement.
Charles Johnson of the AlaskaNanuuq Commission, said: “Weknow that polar bears are beingharvested at alarming numbers in
Chukotka. These numbers areunsustainable. The enactment of theAgreement is critical for the long-term survival and conservation ofour population of polar bears.”
According to the US Fish andWildlife Service, the legislation willestablish a common legal, scientificand administrative framework. TheAgreement calls for the developmentof binding harvest limits and placesrestrictions on hunting. Current lawallows for Alaska native subsistenceharvests. Illegal harvesting alsooccurs in Chukotka. Unless changesare made on both sides, there couldbe a decline in the population.
Marshall Jones, deputy directorof US Fish and Wildlife Service,said: “The Agreement addresses aparticular concern, which is thewidely different harvest provisionsand practices on the US side andthe Russian side of the population.
“The bottom line is that both theUnited States and RussianGovernments appear to want toprotect the polar bear population,but the US Congress needs to giveapproval first.”
The Polar Bear Agreement alsoprohibits the harvest of denningbears and females with cubs.
Nigel Allan,[email protected]
Bear legislationPolar bear mother and cubs on the pack ice in the Beaufort Sea.
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Imperial Oil executives recentlyannounced that the companyand its partners in the
Mackenzie Gas Pipeline are ready tomove to public hearings, contentthat sufficient progress has beenmade in negotiations with northernaboriginal groups over financialrewards, rights to jobs and businessopportunities.
But the Deh Cho First Nationsand many socio-cultural and envi-ronmental groups are still not onboard with the project.
In an interview with theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation(CBC), Herb Norwegian, Deh ChoGrand Chief, said his people won’tgive in to pressure from govern-ment, industry or fellow aboriginals.Norwegian said: “If it means onegroup is going to destroy the way oflife of another group, I think we have
a pretty serious problem, just so thatwe could cater to a multinationalcorporation.”
This next step in the regulatoryprocess has also prompted manyother energy companies, notinvolved with the pipeline, to moveforward with their own projects.This could escalate development inthe North beyond the impact of thepipeline.
Pete Ewins, of WWF-Canada,said: “It seems ironic that withoutcompleted land use plans for theregion, with rapid climate changehaving such huge impacts on thisregion of great concern to aborig-inal people, and with Canadahaving significantly increased itsgreenhouse gas emissions, Canadashould be considering such a huge,$7.5 billion hydrocarbon energyproject. It will undoubtedly accel-
erate further arctic oil and gasdevelopment.”
“In the Canadian North there isan opportunity to do it right andconserve important cultural andecological areas first. TheMackenzie Gas Development andrelated projects amount to a grabfor land and resources that neglectpeople and wildlife.We must firstimplement the NWT ProtectedAreas Strategy (PAS) effectively,”said Ewins
WWF and its partners willmaintain pressure on theGovernment and project propo-nents to abide by the PAS andcomplete proper land use planning.Public hearings could begin in lateJanuary 2006, and be completed byOctober 2006.
Nigel [email protected]
Mackenzie update
Initial scientific results showNorwegian killer whales are themost toxic mammals in the
Arctic.Previous research awarded this
dubious honour to the polar bear,but a new study shows that killerwhales have even higher levels ofPCBs, pesticides and a brominatedflame retardant.
The results are based on blubbersamples taken from killer whales inTysfjord, a fjord in arctic Norway.This is the first time the findings ofthe research, carried out by theNorwegian Polar Institute (NPI),and partly funded by theNorwegian Research Council, havebeen revealed.
Dr Hans Wolkers, a researcherwith NPI, said:“Killer whales can beregarded as indicators of the healthof our marine environment. Thehigh levels of contaminants are veryalarming. They clearly show thatthe arctic seas are not as clean asthey should be, which, in particular,affects animals at the top of thefood chain.”
WWF funded Dr Wolkers tocarry out new research from thisNovember to further monitor thelevels of dangerous contaminantsin the killer whales, includinganother brominated flame retar-dant called deca-BDE, used in elec-tronic goods and coatings forhousehold products such ascarpets. The findings of thisresearch are expected next year.
The appearance of a potentiallydangerous brominated flame retar-dant in the killer whales is of partic-ular concern, because – unlikePCBs and the most harmful pesti-cides – most hazardous brominatedflame retardants are not currentlybanned. Brominated flame retar-dants can affect animals’ neurolog-ical function, behaviour and repro-duction.
Brettania Walker, toxics officerwith the WWF International ArcticProgramme, said: “This new killerwhale research re-confirms that theArctic is now a toxic-sink.Chemicals in everyday products arecontaminating arctic wildlife. Wemust replace hazardous chemicalswith safer alternatives wheneverthese are available.”
Helen Bjørnøy, the NorwegianMinister of Environment, said:“The toxic contamination of killerwhales clearly shows the result of anunsustainable use of chemicalsinternationally. This is one of thegreatest global environmentalthreats. The EU ministers now havethe possibility to strengthen thechemicals legislation in Europe, andI urge them to use it. It is impera-tive that the REACH regulation
becomes a tool to stop using themost dangerous chemicals.”
Killer whales are foundthroughout arctic Norway,including Svalbard and the BarentsSea, but congregate in the Tysfjordarea to feed on spawning herringduring the winter. This offers anexcellent opportunity to samplethem in an efficient way. See featurepage 19–20.
Julian Woolford, [email protected]
WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05 News 9
Killer whales most toxic
Satellitedecisionpending
Adecision about whether theEuropean Space Agency (ESA)will launch a second satellite to
monitor arctic ice is set to take place inearly 2006.
ESA’s first CryoSat Mission, designed togather and analyse data on sea ice thick-ness in the Arctic, ended in failure inOctober due to technical problems.
CryoSat was set to make a significantcontribution to the understanding ofclimate change and its effects on theArctic.
From an altitude of just over 700 kmand reaching latitudes of 88 degrees,CryoSat was designed to monitor precisechanges in the thickness of the polar icesheets and floating sea ice.
It would have made observations overa three-year lifetime and should haveprovided further evidence of rates atwhich ice cover may be diminishing.
The Khrunichev Space Centre in Russialaunched the CryoSat satellite. It was thefirst time the ESA had used a Russianspace centre. The Russian State authoritieshave established an investigating commis-sion to further analyse the reasons for thefailure.
According to Dr Franco Bonacina fromESA, a decision about whether to launcha second CryoSat mission will be madeearly in 2006.
Nigel [email protected]
The short-lived Russianrocket carrying the Cryosatsatellite disappears into theclouds.The failed CryosatMission was designed tomeasure the sea ice thick-ness in the Arctic.
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10 News WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
Apopulation survey by theDepartment of Environmentand Natural Resources in
Canada’s Northwest Territories(NWT) has revealed an 80 percentdecline in the Bluenose Westcaribou herd.
The survey found the number ofanimals in the Bluenose West herdhad dropped to 20,800 from justunder 99,000 animals in 1987. TheGovernment also estimates theCape Bathurst herd has declined to2,400 from an estimate of 17,500 in1992. The Bluenose East herd hasdeclined to 66,600 in 2005 from anestimate of 104,000 in 2000.
Dr Ray Case, biologist with theDepartment of Environment andNatural Resources, said: “We arevery confident in the results. Therewas an extensive effort to make surewe located all of the groups andcounted the caribou.
“Some aboriginal hunters were
originally sceptical about theresults. Since then we have haddiscussions with them and theyagree that in all likelihood caribouare in a period of decline.
“The Inuvialuit, Gwich’in andSahtu co-management boards haverecommended that we re-surveythe herds. It is not that they doubtthe numbers, but they want toensure that we are monitoring thesituation very closely, as they areextremely concerned.”
This decline also appears to beaffecting other caribou herds acrossNorth America, including theBeverly herd and the Porcupineherd, suggesting that there arefactors working at a subcontinentallevel.
Case said: “The information wehave indicates that climate factorsare major drivers of the cariboupopulation cycle. However, we maynot be able to infer that history will
repeat itself, as based on whatclimate scientists have been saying,changes in climate appear to bedifferent than in the past.”
Case and colleagues’ key messageis that caribou cycles are naturaland expected, but what humans dowhen caribou decline is veryimportant and can effect how theirnumbers increase when conditionsimprove.
In an interview with theCanadian BroadcastingCorporation, NWT EnvironmentMinister Michael Miltenberger saidthat he hopes the new study willprove that regulations are needed toprotect the caribou.
Miltenberger said that hisdepartment would take measures toprotect the Bluenose and CapeBathurst herds within the nextmonth.
Nigel [email protected]
Lars Kristofersen, CEO of WWF-Sweden, hasbeen awarded the Golden Medal of theMinistry of Nature Conservation of theYakutia Republic in Russia for his conservationwork in the region.
For the past ten years,WWF-Sweden hascollaborated with the Ministry to help create anetwork of protected areas that nowcomprise 30 percent of Yakutia.
Yakutia is the largest republic in Russia andhome to grizzly bears, polar bears and the
critically endangered Siberianwhite crane.The largestbiological station in theRussian Arctic, the “LenaNordenskiöld”, lies near theIndigirka River in Yakutia.
Half of the Republic isnorth of the Arctic Circle and mostly inacces-sible.The coastal areas of this region are someof the least explored and mapped areas of theworld.
WWF presented the first Gift to the Earthto Yakutia in 1996, as part of the Living PlanetCampaign.The Gift was given in recognition ofthe Republic’s protection of an area of virginSiberian forest and tundra twice the size ofGermany.
Ola Jennersten, programme director ofWWF-Sweden, was awarded the Silver Medalof the Ministry of Nature Conservation ofYakutia.
Viktor NikiforovDirector “The Global 200 “ Programme
Caribou numbers decline
Gold of Yakutia Republic
Surveys ofcaribou in theNorthwestTerritories,Canada, hasrevealed adrastic drop inthe numbers ofsome herds.
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Drilling in protected areas, new oiland gas pipelines, and the lack ofaction on climate change are someof the major issues that youngpeople around the Arctic areconcerned about.
Today’s decision-makers will notbe around to see the eventualoutcomes of their actions. Insteadit will be today’s youth, a grouptraditionally excluded from thedecision-making process, who haveto cope with the ramifications ofthose actions.
In August 2005, Drew Cason, asenior at West High School inAnchorage, Alaska took part in theInternational Youth Eco-Forum onclimate change in Iceland. In anarticle he wrote for the AnchorageDaily News, Cason says: “I learneda lot about the effects of globalwarming around the Arctic, espe-cially in Alaska. As a teenager, I may
be a bit more concerned aboutthese issues, because I will bearound to witness and live withsome of the more devastatingeffects of global warming.”
Cason encourages Alaskans tosupport alternative energy initia-tives and to urge the AlaskanGovernment to follow the lead setby California and Oregon in passinglaws to reduce carbon emissions.Cason is one of many northernyouth who are coming together toadvocate a sustainable future thatalso includes the traditional beliefsof northern indigenous people.
In Russia, at the 2001International Youth Conference onthe Indigenous Peoples and TheEnvironment of the North, Siberiaand the Far East, young peopleurged the Russian Government toprotect their traditional environ-ment and traditional way of life. In
Canada and in Alaska northernyouth groups are expressing similarconcerns about the effects of devel-opment. Indigenous youth inCanada’s Northwest Territoriesformed the Arctic Indigenous YouthAlliance (AIYA), an organisationthat seeks to connect the vision ofthe youth with the wisdom of theelders, and to relate traditionalknowledge and values to issues ofdevelopment and globalisation.
AIYA has worked hard to raiseawareness about the potentialimpacts of the proposed MackenzieGas Project (see p. 8), and has heardwidespread concern from youthand elders across the NorthwestTerritories about the proposedproject. Many youth are concernedthat the project is part of a largerprocess, which is seeing indigenousculture overwhelmed by an indus-trialised culture. They worry about
Northern youth take a standThe young of the Arctic are speaking out on issues that will affect theirfuture. Jenn Sharman of the Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance (AIYA) in Canada,and Verner Wilson of Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA) in Alaska,report on the growing youth movement to build a sustainable future in theArctic.
Inuit childrenfrom theseventh gradeat theAtaguttalukschool inIgloolik.Nunavut,Canada
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Photo: Bryan & Cherry Alexander Photography / www.arcticphoto.co.uk
The Nizhnikolymsky region liesin the Russia Arctic in the farnorth-east of the Sakha
Republic. Splintered by the greatKolyma River and its tributaries, itcovers 87,100 square kilometers, but itspopulation is only around 5,600. It is,in fact, one of the most remote regionson earth.
Most roads in the area are made ofice, and supplies are transported byriver and air. Outside the main settle-ments, the region is tundra and wood-land, and home to an abundance ofwildlife. It’s also home to manydifferent indigenous peoples, includingDolgans, Evenk, Even, Yukagir,Chukchi, Yakut and Nenets. The maineconomies are traditional reindeerherding, hunting and fishing.
In the spring of 2005, theSnowchange team visited localcommunities and indigenous peoplesto document oral histories, traditionalknowledge and conduct research onecological and climate changes in theregion.
We visited Cherskiy, the regionalcapital, and smaller satellite communi-ties, such as Andrejuskino andKolymskaja along the Kolyma River.Our team worked with elders, retired
reindeer herders and other people whohave migrated to live in urban settle-ments.
Alexei Gavrilovich Tretjakov, anEven reindeer herder, believes theclimate is getting warmer. Ground is‘sinking’, he says, because it is wetterthan before. There are more floods inthe region and lakes have disappearedas the ground becomes water-logged,he says. He has also seen the arrival ofsable in the area. Sable is traditionallya species of taiga habitats, but has nowspread northwards to the tundraregions. It has replaced squirrel in theborder areas between taiga and tundra.
In Andrejuskino, local communityleaders voiced their concern about theflooding that has impacted theircommunity. Andrejuskino depends onice roads for medical services, suppliesand other crucial humanitarian serv-ices; it is 12 to18 hours away fromCherskiy by car. The thinner river andlake ice, as well as the unpredictableand swift changes in winter conditions,are impacting community life, they say.
The Snowchange team focused onNutendli, a Chukchi settlement alongthe Kolyma River, close to the ArcticOcean. The settlement is in the processof ‘re-traditionalisation’. Nutendli has
12 Climate change WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
the implications for their traditionallanguages and cultures.
In June 2005, four members of AIYAtravelled to the Beaufort Delta to holdcommunity meetings about theproposed Mackenzie Gas Project. Inthe communities of Inuvik,Tuktoyaktuk, Paulatuk and Aklavik,many youth had never heard about thepipeline. Erin Freeland, a YouthAlliance member, says:“This is perhapsone of the most frustrating thingsabout the present system: those whowill live with the consequences are notconsulted, not informed.”
Brent Wolki, AIYA board memberfrom Tuktoyaktuk, says: “I spoke withmy great-grandmother in Paulatukabout the development. She said: ‘Idon’t want the pipeline to go throughbecause it will affect our way of livingand life for the future of our children,also it will affect my favorite caribou.’”
In Alaska, six teenagers foundedAlaska Youth for Environmental Action(AYEA) in 1998. The programme hasblossomed into a network of more than1,000 youth in 23 communitiesthroughout the state, and has workedon a number of environmental issues,including the struggle to stop drilling inthe Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.AYEA is a program of the NationalWildlife Federation.
AYEA believes it is unfortunate thatAmerican and Alaskan corporate inter-ests and politicians are close tosucceeding in their plans to drill in theArctic Refuge. It is unfortunate notonly for the indigenous Gwich’inIndians, who view it as their sacredland, but also unfortunate for today’schildren and future generations.
Verner Wilson, of AYEA, says:“Drilling in the Arctic Refuge willcreate a precedent, which may call fordrilling in other national lands. In ourgeneration we may see drilling in othernational parks or areas critical forhabitat and wildlife if we do not changeAmerica’s oil dependent energy policy.
“We would rather benefit by lookingto the future and move forward to anenvironmentally conscious energyindependence through avenues such asrenewable energy. We hope the youthin our generation will join us in thisvision.”
Jenn SharmanArctic Indigenous Youth Alliance
Verner WilsonAlaska Youth for Environmental Action, National
Wildlife FederationTo learn more about AYEA, go to: [email protected]
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Climate storiesfrom the Russian Arctic
Indigenous communities in one ofthe most remote regions in Russiaare witnessing climate change. Inthe spring of 2005, Tero Mustonenand a team from Snowchange,visited Nizhnikolymsky in theRussian Arctic to learn more.
a nomadic school where local eldersteach the younger generation, withhelp from a State-sponsored teacher.
The approach to learning inNutendli is unique. Every child has hisor her own reindeer, and their parentshelp the children take care of them.During the summer, children take partin reindeer herding and other tradi-tional activities, such as fishing. Thispractical approach enables them tolearn about their own culture andlanguage in action.
Vyatcheslav Kemlil, the leader ofNutendli, says he wants to teach chil-dren all aspects of reindeer herding,and the Chukchi language. He says thatit is “easy” to become a herder, but thatone must also learn about nature, andfrom other elders with more experi-ence. He wants his children’s genera-tion to be well educated and capable ofliving the traditional way of life.
Nutendli is an indigenous ‘servicehub’ to the surrounding nomadic rein-deer camps. Weather plays a crucialrole in the daily life of the community.
This means the impact of a changingclimate has become a priority.
While the Snowchange team werethere, we worked with the communityto document “star lore”, weather andclimate observations. And we organ-ised joint ceremonies and exchangedstories.
The dramatic changes that are beingwitnessed in Nutendli were summedup by Vyatcheslav at the recentSnowchange Conference in Alaska:
“We watch the weather and noticechanges. Lakes are flooding the banks,small rivers are become larger. Ongrazing grounds, I come acrossunknown plants. There are manydwarf willows growing on the tundra.We use them for bonfires. When I wasa kid we had to search hard for thewillows. Today, I don’t need to lookhard at all.
“New fish species can be observed inthe Kolyma River. Marine species areshowing up. We used to migrate northslowly to reach the sea. Now we reach itvery fast because of the mosquitoes that
bother the reindeer. We observe newstreams and very little ice on the sea. Weare observing lots of single polar bearswandering along the shore. We havehad four cyclones in the fall and lots ofsnow. It is very difficult to ensure thatthere is enough food for the reindeer.”
Nomadic reindeer herding is atraditional way of life in theNizhnikolymsky region. Weather playsa crucial role in daily life. The impactsof climate change, therefore, arecrucial.
The Snowchange team visitedHalartsa, one of the nomadic wintercamps. We heard more stories aboutmelting permafrost and sinkingground. Yet these stories contrastedwith the powerful and resilient wordsof one of the traditional healers inHalartsa:“This has been going on sincetime began – people in the towns maysuffer and wither away eventually, butour way of nomadic life will go onforever.”
Snowchange worked with threekinds of indigenous communities inthe Nizhnikolymsky Region on ourvisit: towns, settlements and reindeercamps. We hope that the work in 2005is the start of a long-term collaborationwith the people there. We hope thatour work has helped document impor-tant and disturbing reports of climatechange impacts, such as permafrostmelting. And that it provided a strongsense of communities ‘re-traditional-ising’, returning to the land, and beingin control of their own destinies again.
Nutendli and other communitiesare planning an epic ski trip to Alaskain 2007 to highlight positive socialchange, including creating awarenessof problems associated with domesticabuse and alcoholism. At this time ofchange, the healing has already begun.
WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05 Climate change 13
This article was writtenby Tero Mustonen ofSnowchange(www.snowchange.org),with contributions fromSnowchange membersKaisu Mustonen, JyrkiTerva,Vyacheslav Shadrin,Tamara Andreeva, EmblaOddsdottir, JohanAsmundsson, and thecommunities of theNizhnikolymsky region.The research teamwishes to thank all of theparticipants in theirworkshops in Yakutia, andthe supporters of theirwork.The Snowchangeproject in Yakutia hasbeen expanded with helpfrom the WWFInternational ArcticProgramme, and theMinistry of ForeignAffairs, Finland.TheUniversity of the Arctic,the University ofAkureyri, Iceland,VladimirVasiliev in Yakutsk and theInstitute of the Problemsof the Indigenous Peoplesof the North, based inYakutsk,Yakutia, have alsoprovided support.
Nomadic reindeerherders at campin Halartsa. LocalIndigenouspeople havereportedincreasedflooding, severeweather varia-tions and meltingpermafrost innorth-eastYakutia, Russia.
The Snowchange project organisedcommunity interviews and workshopsin north-east Yakutia, Russia. Picturedhere, elders and community represen-tatives with the Snowchange teammembers, Embla Oddsdottir (middle),Johann Asmundsson (right) and Teroand Kaisu Mustonen (left).
Indigenous children are the key to thelong-term survival of the nomadicindigenous cultures of north-eastYakutia, Russia.
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14 Climate change WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
Scientists from the National Snowand Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), theNational Aeronautics and SpaceAgency (NASA) and the Universityof Washington in Seattle, haveconcluded that based on thepersistence of near-record low seaice extents, arctic sea ice is likely onan accelerating, long-term decline.
Dr Julienne Stroeve of NSIDC,said: “Considering the record lowamounts of sea ice this year leadingup to the month of September,2005 will almost certainly surpass2002 as the lowest amount of icecover in more than a century.”
If current rates of decline in seaice continue, the summertimeArctic Ocean could be completelyice-free well before the end of thiscentury.
This record covers the period1978 to the present. A recent assess-ment of trends throughout the pastcentury indicates that the currentdecline also exceeds past low iceperiods in the 1930s and 1940s.
With four consecutive years oflow summer ice extent, confidenceis strengthening that a long-termdecline is underway. Dr WalterMeier, NSIDC researcher, said:“Having four years in a row withsuch low ice extents has never beenseen before in the satellite record. Itclearly indicates a downward trend,not just a short-term anomaly.”
In addition, however, this yearbrings with it some new anomalies.
The winter recovery of sea iceextent in the 2004–2005 season wasthe smallest in the satellite record.Cooler winter temperatures allowthe sea ice to “rebound” aftersummer melting. But with theexception of May 2005, everymonth since December 2004 has seta new record low ice extent for thatmonth.
Professor Roger Barry, Directorof NSIDC, spent time in the LaptevSea in mid-September, on an arcticicebreaker. The ship entered onlyone area of continuous ice to the
east of Severniya Zemvya, one ofthe most northern island chains ofRussia.
Barry mused about the possibleeffects of the sea ice decline,including the impact on arcticanimals.“We saw several polar bearsquite close to the ship,” he said.“Polar bears must wait out thesummer melt season on land, usingtheir stored fat until they can returnto the ice. But if winter recovery andsea ice extent continue to decline,how will these beasts survive?”
Since 2002, satellite records havealso revealed that springtimemelting is beginning unusuallyearly in the areas north of Alaskaand Siberia. The 2005 melt seasonarrived even earlier, beating themean melt onset date by approxi-mately 17 days, this timethroughout the Arctic.
In addition, arctic temperatureshave increased in recent decades.Compared to the past 50 years,average surface air temperatures
Arctic melt acceleratingFor the fourth consecutive year, scientists using satellite data have tracked astunning reduction in arctic sea ice at the end of the northern summer.Stephanie Renfrow of the National Snow and Ice Data Centre, reports.
A study of little auks willprovide a valuable insightinto how climate changeis impacting arcticspecies. Ann Harding andcolleagues report.
¨Numerous studies show that drasticclimate change is currently takingplace in the Arctic, with melting seaice, shrinking glaciers, warmer airtemperatures, thawing permafrost,longer growing seasons, andcascading effects on individualspecies. The rapidly melting arcticsea ice is predicted to have a largeimpact on the oceanographic circu-lation patterns in the Greenland Sea,with changes in the origin, strengthand distribution of the differentwater masses affecting the associated
marine ecosystem. In order to under-stand how such ecosystem changeswill affect top marine predators, weare studying the little auk (Alle alle),a high arctic seabird that has a veryspecialised zooplankton diet.
The little auk is the most abun-dant seabird species in the Atlantic(the total population is estimated at12 to 20 million pairs), with thelargest colonies located between 70to 80 degrees North on the arcticislands of Greenland andSpitsbergen.
The little auk belongs to the aukfamily, with its closest relativesbeing the guillemots (Uria species)and the razorbill (Alca torda). Littleauks lay their single egg in enclosedrock crevices in talus slopes, andcolonies can be found on the coastor on mountain slopes as far as 30kilometer inland. These small black
and white seabirds are highly social,and their vast colonies are spectac-ular. Mass synchronised flights,gathering several thousands ofindividuals over the breedingcolony, are a prominent feature oflittle auk breeding behavior. Birdsin flight are often extremely vocal,with somewhat hysterical ‘trilling’calls that add to this intense spec-tacle of movement and activity.
Little auks also play an importantrole in the arctic ecosystem by trans-porting large amounts of nutrientsfrom the sea to the land. It has beenestimated that birds at one colony inSpitsbergen add about 60 tons ofnutrient-rich excreta per squarekilometre of colony area. As a result,areas next to large little auk coloniessupport important concentrationsof vegetation and attract manyinsects and herbivores.
Little auk
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WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05 Climate change 15
Little auks feed almost entirely ontiny zooplankton that are caughtduring wing-propelled dives. Parentlittle auks carry these zooplanktonback to their chick at the colony in athroat pouch which can hold over15,000 individual prey items.Different zooplankton communitiesare associated with the differentwater masses in the Greenland Sea.More importantly, the energycontent of individual zooplanktondiffers among species, with largerspecies generally providing moreenergy to predators than smallerones. Changes in the species compo-sition of zooplankton communitiesassociated with changes in oceano-graphic conditions in the GreenlandSea will, therefore, directly affect theenergy flow to little auks, withpotential impact on their reproduc-tion and survival.
The little auk’s small size andrelatively high-energy expenditurealso make them particularly sensi-tive to local variability in prey. High
energy demands are due to theirhigh wing loading (low wingsurface area to body size) and longforaging distances. These little birdsmay, therefore, have little ability tospend more energy on foraging iflocal food availability decreases.
We are comparing the breedingand feeding ecology of populationsof little auks foraging in highlycontrasted oceanographic condi-tions. Projects funded by theNorwegian Research Council,National Science Foundation andNorwegian Polar Institute arestudying little auk colonies on thewest coast of Spitsbergen, and theFrench Polar Institute (IPEV) andWWF is funding a study of littleauks in east Greenland. 2005 wasthe official start of this collaborativeeffort, with teams conducting boat-based surveys to quantify localoceanographic conditions,zooplankton availability and thedistribution of feeding birds onboth sides of the Greenland Sea.
Teams at each study colony alsocollected information about howhard parent little auks wereworking, how successfully theywere breeding, how fast chicks weregrowing and what prey speciesparents were feeding their chicks.These data will be used to quantifythe physiological and behaviouralresponse of birds to differentforaging conditions, and assesstheir flexibility to changes in foodavailability.
Information gathered from bothregions will ultimately allow us tomodel the response of little aukpopulations to predicted change inthe arctic marine environmentassociated with climate change.
Ann Harding,Alaska Science Center,USGS/BRD, USA
David Grémillet, Centre National de laRecherche Scientifique, France
Nina Karnovsky, Pomona College, USAGeir Wing Gabrielsen, Norwegian Polar
Institute, Norway.
from January through August,2005, were two to three degreesCelsius (3.6 to 5.4 degreesFahrenheit) warmer than averageacross most of the Arctic Ocean.
Dr Mark Serreze of NSIDC, said:“The year 2005 puts an exclamationpoint on the pattern of arcticwarming we’ve seen in recent years.
“The sea ice cover seems to berapidly changing and the bestexplanation for this is risingtemperatures.”
The trend in sea ice decline, lackof winter recovery, early onset ofspring melting, and warmer-than-average temperatures suggest asystem that is trapped in a loop ofpositive feedbacks, in whichresponses to inputs into the systemcause it to shift even further awayfrom normal.
One of these positive feedbackscentres on increasingly warmtemperatures. Serreze explainedthat as sea ice declines because ofwarmer temperatures, the loss ofice is likely to lead to still-furtherice losses. Sea ice reflects much ofthe sun’s radiation back into space,whereas dark ice-free oceanabsorbs more of the sun’s energy.As sea ice melts, Earth’s overallalbedo, the light reflected awayfrom the planet, decreases. Theincreased absorption of energyfurther warms the planet.
Dr Ted Scambos, NSIDC leadscientist, said: “Feedbacks in thesystem are starting to take hold.Moreover, these feedbacks couldchange our estimate of the rate ofdecline of sea ice. Right now, ourprojections for the future use asteady linear decline, but whenfeedbacks are involved the declineis not necessarily steady – it couldpick up speed.”
On his arctic cruise, Barry sawanother example of a factor thatcontributes to changes in the Arctic.Barry said: “Warm water flowingfrom the Atlantic is persisting in the
Siberian Arctic in a layer 100 to 400meters, or 109 to 437 yards, belowthe surface.” Heat is probably trans-ferring upward from this layer,helping to maintain open waterconditions.
Scientists point out that a longerrecord of data will continue to helpthem better understand both theinfluences and the remarkablechanges that they are now seeing.
Stephanie RenfrowScience Communications
National Snow and Ice Data [email protected]
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2005 has thelowest recordedamount ofarctic sea icecover in morethan a century.
16 Bering Sea WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
One of the greatest challenges inBering Sea conservation andresource management is thetremendous scale of the area. Theecoregion encompasses nearly onemillion square miles of marine,coastal, and island ecosystems. Aplace of superlatives, it is home tothe world’s largest concentrationsof northern fur seals, some of theplanet’s largest bird colonies and isthe location of the world’s longestsalmon migration up the YukonRiver.
Other remarkable migrations tothe area take place too; the arctictern’s 10,000-mile journey fromAntarctica each year; the albatross’circumnavigation of the Globe,transiting the Bering Sea; and thegreat whales journey from Mexico,the south Pacific and elsewhere tofeed on the sea’s bounty.
Another superlative in the ecore-
gion is represented by one of theprotected areas established toconserve the remarkable resourcesin Alaska’s waters: the AlaskaMaritime National Wildlife Refuge.Known as the most remote and farflung refuge in the US’ nationalsystem, Alaska Maritime iscomposed of 2,500 islands andcoastal units.
It is home to thousands ofmarine mammals and approxi-mately 40 million seabirds; 80percent of Alaska’s seabird coloniesare found there. Many of AlaskaMaritime’s units are scatteredaround the Bering Sea ecoregion,making the Refuge an importantpartner in conservation. It is also animportant part of the region’seconomy, attracting tourists andprotecting coastal and marine land-scapes on which many communi-ties and commercial entities
depend.This year I had the chance join
an expedition to St Matthew andHall Islands, in the northern BeringSea, two of the most remoteoutposts of the Refuge. Sponsoredby the Alaska Maritime NationalWildlife Refuge, the expeditionteam, led by refuge biologists ArtSowls and Heather Renner, wascomposed of Refuge staff, univer-sity scientists, representatives fromThe Nature Conservancy andWWF, and two representatives ofthe Pribilof Islands, another veryimportant unit of the Refuge.
To reach the islands, we boardedthe Tiglax , the Refuge’s trustyresearch vessel, on St Paul Island,and sailed north for nearly 24hours. At the helm was the jovialand highly knowledgeable CaptainKevin Bell, who delivered one teamand their supplies to St Matthew,
WWF, along with partners in theShipping Safety Partnership (SSP),recently celebrated a major victorywhen the US Congress agreed torestore the federal fund that paysfor the clean up of oil spills, such asthe one created by the grounding ofthe freighter Selendang Ayu inDecember, 2004.
The Selendang Ayu, a Malaysianfreighter, ran aground 1,300 kilo-metres south-west of Anchorage inthe Aleutian Islands, creatingAlaska’s worst oil spill since theExxon Valdez in 1989.
The OSLTF was establishedfollowing the 1989 Exxon Valdez oilspill and had been maintained by afive-cent-per-barrel tax on oil.However, that tax expired in 1994.With no further revenue source and
a series of demands draining thefund, the $800 million in remainingfunds was projected to run outcompletely in 2009, leaving coastalcommunities and resource
managers around the countrywondering how the costs of clean upand restoration would be possible.
WWF-US convinced state andcongressional leaders of the need to
A remote refuge in the Bering SeaLast summer, the WWF’s Margaret Williams visited St Matthew and HallIslands, in the northern Bering Sea, two of the most remote outposts of theAlaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.This is her report.
WWF partners for safer shipping in BeThe risk of oil spills in the Bering Sea is a reality, so it is time to ensureadequate measures are in place to minimise the threat, argues MargaretWilliams.
WWF’s priority actions for advancing shipping safety in the Bering Sea includeadvocating for:• Modification of the language of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF) to
allow use of funds for prevention, rather than just response;• Establishment of a new cargo fee by which cargo ship owners will contribute
to the OSLTF, which is currently funded only by oil shippers;• A comprehensive vessel traffic risk assessment that would characterise vessel
traffic, identify areas of special conservation concern, and suggest risk-reduc-tion measures;
• Establishment of round-the-clock vessel tracking system;• Stationing of high power rescue/ salvage tugs along the Aleutian traffic route;
and• Routing agreements that will protect sensitive Bering Sea wildlife and habitats.
restore the Oil Spill Liability TrustFund (OSLTF), the source ofmonies used in oil spill remediationthroughout the United States.
After a couple of months ofactive outreach, WWF wasextremely pleased to see the intro-duction of legislation re-instatingand raising the cap on the OSLTF.Although this particular bill (theOil Spill Liability Trust FundMaintenance Act) was not passedthe legislative language, for whichWWF had advocated, was retainedand the measure was included inthe nation’s Energy Bill, passed inAugust, 2005.
Restored funding aside, the threatof another disastrous oil spill stilllurks in the Bering Sea ecoregion.The body of the Selendang Ayu stillrests where it ran aground and brokeon nearby Unalaska Island, andmore than 20 percent of oiled beachsegments still have oil on them,despite efforts to clean them.
The prevention of shipping acci-dents and associated oil spills mustbe achieved to ensure a healthyBering Sea ecosystem. This meansinsisting on regulations that willtruly improve the safety perform-ance of the more than 3,000 vesselsthat traverse the sea each year.
In striving for safer shipping inthe Bering Sea ecoregion, WWF isexpanding beyond the impactsassociated with vessel traffic in theAleutian Islands and Great CircleRoute. This year, WWF’s Bering SeaEcoregion team has joined forces
with the WWF International ArcticProgram to assess the extent andtype of cruise tourism activities inthe Bering Sea and to identifypotential areas where cruise prac-tices can be improved, especially inthe most sensitive marine areas, forexample, by promoting best prac-tice in fuel conservation, wastemanagement systems, and wildlifeviewing practices.
Margaret D.WilliamsDirector,WWF Bering Sea Ecoregion
WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05 Bering Sea 17
ring Sea
and another batch to Hall Island.For two weeks, each group
conducted a series of research proj-ects. The St Matthew crewconducted a fox survey and assessedthe degree to which the tundraecosystem has rebounded in the 30years since the death of the lastreindeer. On Hall Island, our groupconducted a productivity andpopulation assessment of severalseabird species that serve as bell-wethers for the status of forage fishand plankton in the near shore andoffshore environments.
We also recorded observations ofother island life, such as theendemic singing vole (it really doessing) and the strangely shy arcticfoxes that scouted our camp daily.Evie Witten of the NatureConservancy discovered a sampleof an endemic species of Artemesia– a first for the records on HallIsland natural history. Our groupalso included two researchers fromthe University of Alaska –Fairbanks, Sasha Kitaysky and MikeShultz whose research on stresshormones in birds required inge-nuity and long days at the birdcliffs. Finally, using GPS andwalking around the small island
several times, our group created amap of the islands.
To spend two weeks on an islandas remote and untouched as HallIsland (which has never beeninhabited, built upon, bombed,subjected to introduced species, orovergrazed by reindeer) was aremarkable opportunity. Indeed,the Refuge and places like these arecritical pieces in the dynamic anddifficult conservation arena.
However, this Refuge is threat-ened. In August, the NationalWildlife Refuge Associationpublished a report, listing AlaskaMaritime as one of six of thenation’s 545 national wildliferefuges that are threatened. Thedisastrous shipwreck of theSelendang Ayu contributed in largepart to this unfortunate recogni-tion.
This year WWF has beenworking on some of those issues.We have been actively engaged onshipping issues, in Washington DCas well as Alaska. We initiated a newprogramme on climate change,Climate Witness, to gather commu-nity observations on climatechange and bring their stories to thepublic. And we are supporting
community-based scienceprogrammes in several coastalcommunities, to enable Bering Searesidents to monitor and recordchange in this amazing and expan-sive ecoregion.
Margaret D.WilliamsDirector,WWF Bering Sea Ecoregion
Programme
The Shipping Safety PartnershipThe Shipping Safety Partnership(SSP) is an informal partnershipof interest groups andindividuals sharing the commongoal of improving shippingsafety along the primary NorthPacific cargo shipping routes, inparticular along the GreatCircle Route through theAleutian Islands and southernBering Sea.This coalition of
commercial fishingorganisations, conservationgroups, tribal, municipal andvillage governments, state andfederal agencies, academicinstitutions, and citizens ofcoastal communities, wasformed in response to thedisastrous Selendang Ayugrounding and oil spill offUnalaska Island in December
2004.The policy agenda of theSSP is focused on calling formeasures to reduce the risk ofgroundings, collisions, and oiland cargo spills from theseveral thousand merchantvessels that transit the BeringSea each year. For moreinformation, visitwww.alaskaoceans.net/sao/ssp.htm
Guillemot onsea cliffs,St.GeorgeIsland,Alaska.
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18 Toxics WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
A University of Florida (UF)researcher, who is aiming to betterunderstand how industrial pollu-tants in arctic ecosystems mightimpact humans, has zeroed in onhow effectively polar bears are ableto rid themselves of environmentaltoxins consumed in the food theyeat.
Bears can completely eliminateonly one of five of the tested classesof industrial contaminants they areexposed to, a finding that’s badnews for the bears and other specieswho share their environment,according to Margaret James, PhD,an environmental toxicologist atUF.
James says: “The polar bear hasquite an efficient system formetabolising these pollutants. Ifthey can’t do it, then it’s unlikelythat other animals or persons can.”
The UF study, published in theOctober issue of the journal DrugMetabolism and Disposition, couldhelp researchers learn more about
the effects of pollutants on humansliving in the Arctic, who share thesame staple diet as the bears.Because polar bears are mammalswith a diet similar to the nativeInuit, they may serve as good surro-gates for studying human popula-tions also exposed to the pollutants.
Studying liver tissue samplesobtained from the bears, Jamesfound that the animals weresurprisingly efficient atmetabolising one of the five typesof industrial chemicals studied –those produced by a ‘burningprocess’, which are similar to thecompounds that form when meat iscooked on a grill. The other fourpollutants, she determined, couldnot be fully excreted.
James says: “This suggests thatother species will metabolise thepollutants more slowly. When theyare not sufficiently excreted thelevels go up.”
James, chairwoman of thedepartment of medicinal chemistryat UF’s College of Pharmacy,became interested in studyingpollutants nearly 30 years ago.Around that time, researchers firstbegan to understand that industrialbyproducts were carried to theArctic by trade winds and thensettled in the sub-zero tempera-tures, making them more likely toaccumulate in the food chain.
James faced one obstacle in herresearch: how could a Floridaresearcher obtain a polar bear forscientific study? Her break came in2003, when Canadian colleaguesStelvio Bandiera, PhD, professor ofbiomolecular and pharmaceuticalchemistry at the University ofBritish Columbia in Vancouver, andRobert Letcher, PhD, atEnvironment Canada in Ottawa,donated liver tissue samples fromthree adult male bears to UF. Thebears came from a legallycontrolled hunt in 1993 by the Inuitnative to the Canadian Arctic.
In her research, James concen-trated on five types of chemicalcontaminants known by theacronym POPs, for persistentorganic pollutants. They include
methoxychlor, a compound used asa substitute for the pesticide DDTwhen it was banned, and whichWWF recommended as an additionto the Stockholm Convention;TCPM, an industrial compoundfound in the Arctic, but ofunknown origin and toxicity; PCP,used as a wood preservative; andPCBs, industrial chemicals used formany years in electrical applica-tions. All of these substances, withthe exception of TCPM, are regu-lated or banned, but they persist inthe environment.
Polar bears break down thesefat-soluble chemicals in two steps,each of which makes the substancesmore water-soluble and thereforeeasier to excrete, said James. Thefirst step, however, results in acompound that is more chemicallyreactive and therefore moreharmful to living cells, with thepotential for reproductive orneurological damage. The secondphase, often slower than the first,determines how successfully theanimals eliminate the toxins, shesaid.
In 2001, the world population ofpolar bears was estimated to bebetween 21,500 and 25,000, ofwhich some 15,000 were in Canada.There has been a decline in somesub-populations, which someblame on environmental pollution.
People throughout the worldcontinue to be exposed to chemicalpollutants long after they arecreated and released into theatmosphere, James said. Her imme-diate research goal is to help scien-tists gain a better understanding ofexactly how these compounds areeliminated from the body. Herlong-range goal is to providegovernments and regulatory agen-cies with scientific findingsregarding the safety or potentialrisks of the environmental chemicalpollutants that will guide futuredecisions about the use and thedisposal of these compounds.
Linda HomewoodUniversity of Florida
Polar bear – a toxic indicator?Polar bears hold a key to understanding the health risk of environmentalpollutants. Linda Homewood reports.
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A curious polarbear stands upfor a betterlook, CapeChurchill,Canada
A crisp and clear autumn morningwelcomes us when we leave ourlittle cabin and walk a few hundredmeters to the harbor where ourrubber boat, a ‘zodiac’, is parked forthe night. This year is just like anyother year in the Tysfjord area ofnorthern Norway: although not asingle wrinkle disturbs the sea’sfeatures, we know that just metersbelow this pristine surface one ofnature’s big displays is going on.Millions of herring, heavy with roeand milt, have migrated into thefjords ready to spawn. Thanks tospecial conditions in the fjords,favoring eggs and juveniles, theherring have repeated this migra-tion for many decades. But, for theherring, mating is a risky business.Factory ships efficiently empty the
fjords of herring and there’sanother threat for the spawningfish: killer whales.
Killer whales are skilled hunterswith a taste for the fatty fish. Theyfollow the herring schools from thehigh Arctic, all the way intoNorway’s fjords. In a huntingstrategy called ‘carousel feeding’,groups of collaborating killerwhales herd the herring in a tightschool. The ball of panickingherring is subsequently stunnedwith mighty slams of the whales’flukes and the fish are eaten one byone.
The Arctic is one of the lastremote wilderness areas of ourplanet and mainly consists of clearocean surrounded by a frozen,mountainous landscape. But its pris-
tine appearance is misleading. Deepin the green waters, toxic chemicalsdo their devastating work. Pollution,originating from lower latitudes, istransported by air and sea currentsinto the arctic marine environment.Consequently, killer whales’ food hasbecome contaminated. In thecoming weeks, we will analyse fattissue from killer whales and theirprey species to asses the whales’exposure to toxic contaminants.
It is still dark when we reach ourzodiac and start loading our equip-ment. In the Arctic, days are shortthis time of year and only a tinylight band on the horizon signals anew day. Cameras, sound recordingequipment, and a biopsy gun are allessential tools for our team of three.Without a stutter, our 115-horse
Killer whales’ toxic load Norwegian killer whales are some of the most toxic mammals in the Arcticaccording to new research. Hans Wolkers, a researcher with the NorwegianPolar Institute, carried out research in 2002 and in the early winter of 2005,in Tysfjord, Norway.
Surfacing orca or killer whale (Orcinus orca),Tysfjord, north-western Norway. Photo: Hans Wolkers
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20 Toxics WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
power engine starts and slowly weleave the harbor. While a subtlepink colors the horizon, we scan thefjord for any signs of killer whaleactivity.
Suddenly we spot a large groupof seagulls at a few hundred meters.Slowly we move closer and then wesee the killer whales in action forthe first time. The sea is boiling as agroup of at least eight killer whalesfrantically work for their meal.
With sharp turns and lots of tailsplashing, a school of herring isherded together and attacked. Thegreen water shines with thousandsof floating scales; evidence of aherring slaughter somewhere in thegreen deep. On the surface, floatingherring are a welcome snack forscreaming seagulls.
Although our boat floats in themiddle of the activity, the killerwhales are totally concentrated ontheir hunt and completely ignoreus. This is an excellent opportunityto get some samples. Quickly, I loadthe modified caliber .22 gun with ared hollow-pointed dart. Just whenI’m ready to aim a large male comesup to take a quick breath, exposinghis large dorsal fin and back for acouple of seconds. Just enough timeto get a shot. A modest ‘bang’ andthe dart flies out, hitting the greysaddle patch right in the middle.The whale doesn’t even flinch whenI pull the attached line to get thedart out, and continues to work onhis meal. The first sample is taken.With a small net we also sample afew dozen dead herring to test the
whales’ food for pollutants.Norway has a history of marine
mammal hunting, and killer whaleswere taken as well. Catch records ofthis species exist since the late1930s; between 1938 and 1980 anaverage of 57 whales were killed.The last big culls occurred in 1969,1970 and in 1979 when around 230animals were killed on average as aresponse by the NorwegianGovernment to a presumed compe-tition of killer whales with theherring fisheries. Unfortunately, inspite of the wealth of samples, nopublished studies, includingcontaminant studies, on theseanimals are available.
These days, the whales are a lotsafer, at least from hunters. A largewhale watching industry nowgenerates income for local commu-nities, and the killer whales’amazing behaviour has been thefocus of several nature documen-taries.
Today’s threat comes from a lessvisible source: pollution. This is acontinuing threat to the health ofmarine animals as well as humansharvesting food from the sea. Manychemicals that end up in the Arcticare fat-soluble and degrade onlyslowly. The arctic marine environ-ment is particularly vulnerable tothese pollutants because it acts as afinal contaminant sink and conse-quently contains a major portion ofthese compounds. Due to bioaccu-mulation processes, marine preda-tors, such as killer whales, areaccordingly exposed to relatively
high chemical concentrations,possibly leading to adverse healtheffects.
Although the most harmfulcontaminants, such as PCBs, havebeen banned, they are still abun-dantly present due to their persist-ence and pose a long-term threat towildlife and humans. There isgrowing concern about the increaseof new chemicals such as poly-brominated flame retardants inwildlife. Chemically, thesecompounds are similar to PCBs,but are still used and produced ineveryday household appliances.Recent studies have indicated thatthese ‘PCBs of the 21st century’double their concentration in theenvironment every five years.
Chemical results of the sampleswe have taken reveal a shockingreality: the herring has five to tentimes higher pollution levels thanpolar cod from the high Arctic. Forthe killer whales things are evenworse. Massive amounts of pollu-tants have accumulated in theirblubber tissue, even more so than inpolar bears. This gives killer whalesthe gloomy record as the mostpolluted arctic predator. Comparedto other animals from the Barentsarea, all contaminant levels meas-ured are substantially higher. Eventhe notoriously polluted whitewhales from the Canadian Gulf ofSt. Lawrence, thought to sufferheavily from contaminant expo-sure, show substantially lowercontaminant levels than theNorwegian killer whales.
Particularly striking are the hightoxaphene concentrations in thekiller whales, an indication that thewhales and their prey species spendquite some time in the easternSvalbard area, notorious fortoxaphene pollution. Brominatedflame retardants are also well repre-sented.
It is difficult to predict contami-nant-induced effects as a result ofthis toxic exposure in the killerwhales, but with levels as high asthose seen in these killer whales, thechances that their immune systemis being compromised and theirreproduction impaired, are real-istic. Future monitoring and addi-tional studies to assess possibleeffects will be of utmost impor-tance.
Hans WolkersResearcher, Norwegian Polar Institute
Killer whales are big dolphinsand can weigh more than sixtons.They inhabit most of theworld’s oceans including theAtlantic, Pacific, and IndianOceans and they are one of thefew marine mammal speciesinhabiting both arctic andantarctic waters. Killer whalesseem to prefer colder areas,possibly because of theabundance of food there.
With their characteristicblack and white patterns, killerwhales are among the bestknown cetaceans and are trueicons of the world’s oceans.They are amazingly adaptable,and specialise on food sources
locally available, from small fishto large mammals. Even deerand moose have been reportedto end their life in the jaws ofkiller whales.These adaptablecreatures are famous for takingadvantage of temporary largeprey densities, such as duringthe seal pupping season inPatagonia or spawning herringalong the coast of Norway. Ithas been estimated that thou-sands of killer whales might bepresent in Norwegian coastalwaters when herring areabundant.
Along the west coast ofNorth America, two differentkiller whale populations with
different feeding strategies,‘residents’ and ‘transients’, havebeen identified. Like theNorwegian killer whales,residents stay mainly along thecoast consuming fish as a majorportion of their diet, while thetransient killer whales frequentcoastal waters as well as theopen ocean with their dietconsisting almost exclusively ofmarine mammals.
Because of their position atthe top of the food chain, thehealth of killer whale popula-tions can be considered theultimate indicator of marineecosystem health.
Killer whale facts
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Contrary to other arctic goosespecies regularly occurring inEurope, the general migrationdirection of the European andwestern Siberian populations of theendangered lesser white-frontedgoose, Anser erythropus, is south-east or south. The main staging andwintering sites of the species are inthe former Soviet Union, in theCaspian Region, and in the MiddleEast.
In these areas, the control ofhunting, as well as the conservationof wetlands, is less advanced than inwestern Europe. This is one of themost important reasons for theglobally threatened status of thespecies, while most other arcticgoose populations, wintering inwestern Europe, are thriving. Thehistorical range of the goose coverswhole sub-arctic Eurasia, butnowadays the distribution is patchy,and all the populations show adeclining trend.
The world population of thelesser white-fronted goose (around25,000 individuals at mid-winter) isdivided genetically into two parts ofroughly equal size, a western and aneastern flyway population, with ageographic divide on the TaimyrPeninsula, Russia. The westernflyway population migrates fromthe breeding grounds in Russia, vianorth-western Kazakstan, to thestill very poorly known winteringareas in the Caspian region andMiddle East. The eastern flywaypopulation winters mainly inChina.
In addition to the major dividebetween the western and easternflyway populations, the criticallyendangered Fennoscandian popu-lation, presently numbering only20–30 pairs, breeds both in theNordic countries and on the KolaPeninsula in Russia, although in thelatter case, the total numbers ofpairs are unknown.
High mortality rate due tohunting and poaching is assessed tobe the most important single threatfor the species, and it is alone suffi-cient to explain the present contin-uous decline of the goose popula-
tions. This has become evidentbased on ringing and satellitetracking programmes. Springhunting of adult birds exerts partic-ularly harmful effects on the popu-lation. To fight off this threat, aswell as the other threats, like lossand deterioration of habitats, thefirst essential step is to reveal thekey staging and wintering sites.Satellite tracking is a powerful toolin this work.
Migration mappedIn the summer of 2004, theFennoscandian Lesser White-Fronted Goose Conservation Project(a joint effort between WWFFinland and BirdLife Norway), andthe Goose, Swan and Duck StudyGroup of Northern Eurasia, starteda project to track, by satellite trans-mitters, the migration route of thegeese breeding in the polar Urals,Russia. Before this project, the flywayof the western main population wasalready relatively well known as farsouth as to the autumn staging areain the Kostanay region in north-western Kazakstan. But the routefurther south of Kazakstan was verypoorly known.
In July 2004, Vladimir V.Morozov and his colleagues
WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05 text 21
Connected to the Arctic
Linking Mesopotamia to the ArcticSatellite tracking helps plot the path of the lesser white-fronted goose.WWF’s Petteri Tolvanen reports.
Lesser white-fronted goose.
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22 Connected to the Arctic • Bookreview WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05
Snow Amazing: Cool Facts and Warm TalesAnn Love, Jane Drake, Mark Thurman(illustrations)Tundra Books80 ppISBN 0-88776-670-6
This delightful book is packed witha rich array of facts, stories, imagesand questions from around theArctic. It’s a ‘must’ for any parentinterested in their children’s appre-ciation of the beauty and diversityof countries with snow, but also avery good tapestry of ‘snow-things’for any grown-up who doesn’talready know it all.
The book is set up as a series ofshort profiles of the many facets ofsnow and how nature and people
adapt to them. Each topic is giventwo to four pages, making a lovely,short but very informative andwell-illustrated burst of informa-
tion and story. I particularly likedthe old Russian folktale The LittleSnow Girl, and the section on fourexperts who have made amazingresearch discoveries of ecologyunder the snow.
After all that marvel and awe, Igot to the final two pages and wasbrought back wisely by the authorsto the realities of what our speciesis doing to snow and the Arctic –melting it quickly via globalwarming.
I read at bedtime to my youngdaughters and found it to be a veryexciting and well-balanced bookthat led to good conversations anddreams.
Pete [email protected]
from the Goose, Swan and DuckStudy Group of Northern Eurasia,caught three geese and equippedthem with transmitters. One of thetransmitters worked throughoutthe migratory journey, and revealeda number of formerly unknownstaging and wintering sites. Themost important and mostsurprising finding was that the birdspent the whole mid-winter as farsouth as the MesopotamianMarshes in eastern Iraq. The nextvery challenging step, which iscrucial for the conservation of thespecies, is to start goose inventoriesin the area. The transmitter stillworked during the whole springmigration, and in the end of May2005 the bird safely returned to thebreeding area. For the first timeever, the whole migration route andall major stopover and winteringsites of a single lesser white-frontedgoose were mapped.
New international LIFE projectfor the conservation of lesserwhite-fronted geese on theEuropean flywayAn international EU LIFE Natureproject, titled ‘Conservation of theLesser White-fronted Goose onEuropean migration route’ startedin April 2005. The project aims toimprove and monitor the conser-vation status of the critically endan-gered Fennoscandian lesser white-fronted goose population, and toput in to practice the internationalaction plan for the lesser white-fronted goose, published byEuropean Commission in 1996.
The LIFE project is run by WWFFinland, with nine more partners inFinland, Norway, Estonia, Hungaryand Greece. In addition to thefinancial contribution of the EUand the project partners, the projectis co-financed by the Finnish andEstonian Ministries ofEnvironment.
In the potential breedinggrounds in the Fennoscandiantundra, the LIFE project aims tolocate the most important breedingareas, and to secure favourableconservation status of these areas.At the staging and wintering sites,the project aims to eliminate themost important threats for thespecies, such as high mortality dueto hunting and poaching, loss oforiginal feeding and roosting habi-tats, and human disturbance. Theproject also aims to fill in the gapsin knowledge for example by satel-lite tracking, and to identify furtherneeds for lesser white-fronted gooseconservation measures along theflyway.
The Fennoscandian lesser white-fronted goose population is sosmall that it is already on the vergeof extinction, and so there is anurgent need to protect the popula-tion more effectively. As a whole,the European flyway is insecure forthe species; the annual monitoringof the spring staging areas shows acontinuous decline in the numbersof individuals.
The LIFE project targets the wildFennoscandian breeding popula-tion. In Sweden, a re-introducedpopulation is breeding, and this
population migrates to theNetherlands for winter.
The reintroduced population isregarded as a potential geneticthreat to the wild population,because hybridisation with thewhite-fronted goose Anser albifronsand greylag Goose Anser anser hasoccurred during the captive historyof the Swedish and Finnish captivelesser white-fronted goose stocksused or planned to be used in thereintroduction. They also form athreat because the small non-pedi-gree and ill-managed captive popu-lations might have accumulateddeleterious mutations withuntested effects in the wild. Whenintroduced into small wild popula-tion, these alleles might becomequickly fixed by genetic drift andaccelerate the extinction of the wildFennoscandian population.
Petteri TolvanenWWF Finland
Further information is available at:
� Portal for the lesser white-frontedgoose, including day-to-day satellitefollow up results of the Iraq lesserwhite-fronted goose:www.piskulka.net� Conservation of the lesser white-fronted goose on Europeanmigration route LIFE project:www.wwf.fi/lwfg� WWF Newsroom,WWF trackslesser white-fronted goose to Iraq:http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/news.cfm?uNewsID=17052
➤
Kids Book of the Far NorthAnn Love, Jane Drake, Jocelyne Bouchard(Illustrator)Kids Can Press pp 48ISBN: 1550745638Ages 9–12
There are many mysterious andunknown places in the world. Forme the North, and particularly theRussian North, held this mystery.What we know of these places aschildren, and even as adults, is oftenvague and informed by clichés andstereotypes.
The Kids Book of the Far North isan excellent way to introduce youngpeople to the reality of the arcticworld and arctic life. It takes acontemporary and thoughtful lookat life in the Arctic and includes anabundance of well-researchedinformation that is appropriatelywritten for a younger audience.
The book looks at conservation
issues and small sidebars entitled‘Eco Watch’ pose great questionsthat encourage young people tothink about conservation issues andthe way that humans interact withtheir environment. There are ‘day-in-the-life’ stories that give anaccount of what daily life is like fora young person in the North, andthere is detailed information about
Inuit, Saami, Nenets, Inupiat, andYupik cultures as well as storiesfrom elders.
As Kids Book of the Far Northshows, the northern environment isnot a ‘wasteland’ but a thrivingecosystem and home to manypeople. Living in the North alsooffers its own unique set of chal-lenges. It would not normally occurto most people, young or old, froma warmer climate that a northerncommunity that is built onpermafrost cannot simply pipetheir water and waste underground.
Full-colour illustrations, maps,timelines and photographs nicelysupplement the facts about wildlifeand arctic living. For a youngperson, the Kids Book of the FarNorth is an excellent overview ofthe arctic environment andnorthern culture and lifestyle.
Nigel [email protected]
WWF ARCTIC BULLETIN • No. 4.05 Calendar • Bookreview 23
Forthcoming arctic meetings & events
Arctic Council eventsCAFF Management Board Meeting
WHERE: Helsinki, Finland • WHEN: 13 – 15 February • CONTACT: email: [email protected]
Arctic Council Senior Arctic Officials meetingWHERE: Syktyvkar-Komi Republic, Russia • WHEN: 26 – 27 April • CONTACT: email: [email protected]
CAFF XI Biennial MeetingWHERE: Northern Finland • WHEN: 6 – 8 June • CONTACT: [email protected] www.yllassaaga.con/en
Conferences and workshopsAlaska Forum on the Environment
WHERE:Anchorage,Alaska • WHEN: 6 – 10 February • CONTACT: www.akforum.com/
13th Ocean Sciences Meeting – A Joint Meeting of ASLO, TOS, and AGUWHERE: Honolulu, Hawaii • WHEN: 20 – 24 February • CONTACT: www.agu.org/meetings/os06/
Symposium "The Greenlandic Environment: Pollution and Solutions"WHERE:Arctic Technology Centre, Sisimiut, Greenland • WHEN: 21 – 23 FebruaryCONTACT: www.arktiskcenter.gl/UK/ARTEK-feb06-UK.pdf
Images of the North ConferenceWHERE: Reykjavik, Iceland • WHEN: 24 – 26 FebruaryCONTACT: www.akademia.is/imagesofthenorth/NORTHWORKSHOP
Community Workshop: "Arctic Navigation and Communications for High-Latitude Ocean Research"WHERE: Seattle,Washington • WHEN: 27 February – 1 March • CONTACT: email: [email protected]
36th Annual International Arctic WorkshopWHERE: Boulder, Colorado • WHEN: 16 – 18 March • CONTACT: instaar.colorado.edu/meetings/AW2006
Convention on Biological Diversity COP8WHERE: Curitiba, Brazil • WHEN: 20 – 31 March • CONTACT: www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.aspx?mtg=COP-08&tab=0
Arctic Science Summit Week 2006WHERE: Potsdam, Germany • WHEN: 22 – 29 March • CONTACT: www.assw2006.de/
International Conference on Alpine and Polar MicrobiologyWHERE: Innsbruck,Austria • WHEN: 27 – 30 March • CONTACT: www.alpine-polar-microbiology2006.at/
7th Nordic-Baltic Conference on Environmental HealthWHERE: Copenhagen, Denmark • WHEN: 24 – 25 April • CONTACT: www.smf.dk/nordic.html
For more on these events and other meetings, please visit:http://www.arcus.org/Calendar/upcomingEvents.shtml • http://www.iasc.no/SAM/samtext.htm
Retur WWF-NorgePO Box 6784 St Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo, Norway
WWFARCTICOFFICESANDCONTACTS
WWF INTERNATIONAL ARCTIC PROGRAMMEKristian Augusts gate 7a,P.O. Box 6784 St. Olavsplass, N-0130 Oslo,NorwayPh.: +47 22 03 65 00,Fax: +47 22 20 06 66www.panda.org/arcticContact: Samantha Smith
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■ mail within Russia:P.O. Box 55 125319 Moscow, RussiaPh: +7 095 7270939Fax: +7 095 7270938www.wwf.ru
■ mail from Europe:WWF, Russian Programme OfficeAccount No.WWF 232P.O. Box 289 WeybridgeSurrey KT 13 8WJ, UK
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Sea ice extent – 1979 to 2005
WWF is the world’s largest andmost experienced independentconservation organisation,with almost five millionsupporters and a globalnetwork active in 90 countries.WWF’s mission is to stop thedegradation of the planet’snatural environment and tobuild a future in which humanslive in harmonywith nature.WWF continuesto be known asWorld WildlifeFund in Canadaand the UnitedStates of America.
Daily ice extent in the summers of2002–2005.All four years are well
below the 1979–2000 average, whichis shown in black.
1980 2005
1979–2000mean minimumsea ice edge
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>50%
<-50%Sea ice concentrationanomalies
The colour bands showdiffering levels of sea iceconcentration. Blueindicates areas whereconcentration is morethan the long-termmean; red shows areaswhere concentration isless than the long-termmean.
Minimum sea ice concentration anomalies (five-day mean)
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