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    1. What We Do
      1. Priority Places
        1. Arctic

WWF's work in the Arctic

A team of researchers, including WWF staff, survey the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge in the Bering Sea.
Jennfer Morgan at UNFCCC COP11/MOP1.
Tonje Folkestad with school students in Huslia, Alaska.
A WWF supported anti-poaching inspector in the Russian Arctic.

In the field, at the office and on the frontline

Since 1992, WWF's International Arctic Programme has been working with our partners across the Arctic to combat these threats and preserve the Arctic's rich biodiversity in a sustainable way.

WWF works in the Arctic through seven offices.

The Programme focuses on five of WWF’s six global priorities:

Conservation efforts are a combination of actions
In the Arctic conservation efforts are a combination of actions ranging from protected area management, promoting public awareness of important conservation issues, to national and regional advocacy work for the establishment of appropriate policies.

International advocacy
These are augmented by international advocacy and actions, such as campaigns, to highlight and demonstrate solutions to crucial environmental problems, through linking field and policy work.

In particular, we press governments to fully implement commitments to the Arctic, including those in the

  • Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy,
  • the Arctic Council’s Circumpolar Protected Areas Network,

And treaties and conventions on:

  • Migratory Birds,
  • Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs),
  • Climate Change and
  • Biodiversity.
Increasingly, WWF's International Arctic Programme tackles conservation threats by addressing the root causes of biodiversity loss. It also looks at new and innovative approaches that can bring about greater change and results.

The 3 arenas of work

WWF's goals in the Arctic are to preserve the region's rich biodiversity, to ensure that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and to reduce pollution and wasteful consumption.

To do this we work actively in three arenas that strongly influence the arctic environment:

  • The political arena, where decisions are made that guide and regulate the actions of individuals and businesses;
  • The business arena, since commercial markets are among the strongest driving forces behind how we exploit and affect our natural environment; and
  • The public arena, where choices are made concerning our individual actions and life styles, and where voting power (influencing politicians) and consumer power (influencing business) is held.


An important political arena for the WWF Arctic Programme is the Arctic Council, a high-level intergovernmental forum for circumpolar co-operation on environment, socio-economic and cultural issues.

In our work with business and industry we strive to achieve real improvements in corporate environmental performance. In our partnerships with key industries we remain independent, transparent, and solutions-oriented. WWF promotes mutual respect in business dealings, yet we always retain our right to criticize.

In the public arena WWF works through targeted campaigns and communications using national and international media. Building on relationships developed between WWF and indigenous peoples groups, arctic governments, and business and industry, WWF is today the best-positioned and most influential environmental NGO in the Arctic.

Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence. RSS/Web Feeds

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