This Earth Hour, March 25, a special live webcast hosted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation will feature a signature lecture from our very own arctic governance specialist, Dr Tatiana Saksina. Find out more
Special live webcast
The Arctic
Talking about polar bears
At the CITES meeting in Doha, Qatar, this week, WWF is opposing the transfer of polar bears to the endangered species list.
Why? Because while WWF believes polar bears are in need of urgent conservation attention due to shrinking sea ice driven by climate change, industrial development, toxic pollution and contact with humans, international trade is not a significant threat to the species.
Listen to a CBC Calgary podcast describing the issues around the proposed CITES listing of polar bears, with input from Craig Stewart, director, Ottawa bureau, WWF Canada: Download the mp3 [11.1 MB]
More on WWF's support of CITES | This week's CITES meeting in Doha
Arctic methane reservoirs 'leaking'
A report in the journal Science says that the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) is leaking methane to the atmosphere, in volumes "on par with previous estimates of methane venting from the entire world ocean", writes Nick Sundt in the WWF US climate blog.
What WWF is doing
About the top of the world
Consisting of deep ocean covered by drifting pack ice and surrounded by continents and archipelagos around the Earth's North Pole, the Arctic is the planet's largest and least fragmented inhabited region.Shared between Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States, it is home to several million people, many of them Indigenous, and provides a rich habitat to a vast array of animals, including the polar bear, arctic fox, and walrus as well as many species of seals, whales and birds.
It stores the world's largest freshwater reserves in its glaciers and offers a wealth of natural resources, especially fossil fuels and fisheries.
An uncertain future
From overfishing and toxic pollution to oil and gas exploration, the Arctic is under threat. Yet there is one single threat that outweighs them all: climate change.Global warming in the Arctic is expected to be two or three times greater than the rest of the world. Even a slight shift in temperature could potentially result in an ice-free Arctic within this century, threatening arctic communities and animals as well as the entire planet.
Fresh from our blog...
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09 Mar 2010
Alaska/Chukotka walrus and polar bear community exchanges
In early February, WWF and the US Fish and Wildlife Service partnered to facilitate community-based ...
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20 Dec 2009
COP15: Finishing with a flourish
The Arctic Tent comes down today, on the same day that President Obama comes to town to join other ...
Latest News
Hoisting sail for safer shipping in the Arctic and Antarctic
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is developing a new Polar Code to regulate polar shipping to ensure that it is safe, and that the environment, wildlife and communities are protected from accidents.
Russian hunters share their stories in Alaska
Indigenous hunters from Chukotka, in Russia’s far east, are visiting Alaska this month to share their experiences with Alaskan Indigenous people and biologists, according to the Alaska Public Radio Network.
WWF Reports
It's not too late
WWF is working with its many partners – governments, business and communities – across the Arctic to combat these threats and preserve the region’s rich biodiversity.
Conservation efforts include a combination of actions ranging from protected area management and public awareness campaigns to promoting national, regional and international advocacy work.- We provide up-to-date and reliable information on the effects of climate change in the Arctic and support actions to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- We persuade governments to go over and above existing commitments for arctic environmental protection.
- We aim to reduce or eliminate direct threats to biodiversity from oil and gas development, encouraging large-scale investments into renewable energy rather than new hydrocarbon projects.
- We work with fishermen to protect of the world’s richest and most productive remaining fisheries from illegal fishing.
- We protect key arctic species and habitats.
Find us on...
Tracking polar bears in the Arctic
Polar bears, the world's largest terrestrial carnivore, spend much of their lives on the arctic sea ice.
But with their habitat melting at an alarming rate as a result of global warming, scientists believe that they will be vulnerable to extinction within the next century.
To ensure their future, the WWF-Canon Polar Bear Tracking Programme is charting polar bear movements throughout the Arctic, giving insight into how they behave in their natural environment and how they are being affected by climate change.
The information is used to help conservationists find solutions to better protect this threatened species.
But with their habitat melting at an alarming rate as a result of global warming, scientists believe that they will be vulnerable to extinction within the next century.
To ensure their future, the WWF-Canon Polar Bear Tracking Programme is charting polar bear movements throughout the Arctic, giving insight into how they behave in their natural environment and how they are being affected by climate change.
The information is used to help conservationists find solutions to better protect this threatened species.
Where is the Arctic?
There are several definitions of the Arctic region as illustrated by the map below.
