Proposed solution:
Protect this global commons
for global public benefit
The Central Arctic Ocean, the world's northernmost 'high seas' region, is by international legal definition a 'global commons', with all such 'international spaces' assigned to be the 'common heritage of humanity' and so for the benefit of all citizens and nations worldwide.
Unsurprisingly for its location, these waters have unique geophysical, oceanographic and biological characteristics, and host an entire ecosystem that has remained undisturbed throughout human history largely due to the barrier to entry presented by its sea-ice cover. However, as the sea-ice habitat recedes to create an ice-free ocean over the coming decades, new risks arise for the wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystem services from potentially increasing vessel activity.
The Foundation's advocacy seeks to inform, catalyse and accelerate the international policy-making process to deliver the optimum conservation measures for the CAO within the wider context of the United Nation's goal to have 30% of the global marine environment protected by 2030.
Currently, the Foundation is exploring the merits of a broadly similar pathway for the CAO's protection to that which secured the Antarctic Treaty System for Antarctica, specifically by working through both the International Polar Year (2032) and an envisaged CAO Scientific Committee, before finally engaging with an international CAO Commission tasked with establishing the North Pole Marine Reserve.
Covering 2.8 million square kilometres around the North Pole, this fastest-changing of ocean regions would then host an iconic marine protected area, and broadly mirror the protective measures secured for the international space that is Antarctica in terms of its promotion of biodiversity conservation, scientific research, and peaceful international co-operation.
To achieve this, the Foundation collaborates with non-governmental organisations and alliances, and engages with Indigenous Peoples, relevant commercial sectors, government agencies and policy-makers.
The following existing building blocks add context and substance to both the rationale and possibility of
protecting the CAO:
- Under international law the CAO is a ‘global commons’ through its ‘high seas’ status
- The UN Convention on Biological Diversity categorises the CAO as an ‘Ecologically /Biologically
Significant Marine Area’ (EBSA)
- The UN International Maritime Organization’s ‘International Code for Ships Operating in Polar
Waters’ (aka IMO Polar Code) applies to the entire Arctic Ocean
- The Arctic Council, comprising the Arctic’s eight sovereign states, focused on the precautionary principle to facilitate the pioneering ‘CAO
Fisheries Agreement’ which committed signatories to a ban on commercial fishing until 2037 -
signatories being all the Arctic states along with China, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union
- The UN advisory body, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, has approved a
proposal to establish a ‘Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary’ for the entire Arctic Ocean (including the
Central Arctic Ocean)
- A growing number of NGOs interested in the future of the wider Arctic Ocean are making explicit their support for a moratorium on commercial fishing, transboundary shipping, radioactive waste dumping, nuclear weapons-testing, and deep-sea mining within the CAO
- The case for the CAO to be treated as a special case in global ocean conservation terms, based on
the notion of "Arctic exceptionalism’, can accelerate progress towards an independent international
agreement
Meanwhile the sea-ice habitat continues to disappear and commercial vessels will increasingly be able to
access, operate and/or exploit resources in these undisturbed waters.
"It’s a deliberate choice and it’s on our watch.
Conserve through
international law an untouched global resource for future generations,
or effectively give the thumbs-up
for its exploitation, degradation and destruction, with everyone losing in the end."
Pen Hadow, Executive Director, 90 North Foundation
To join us in our work to protect this valuable ecosystem.
Below you will find resources and information on how to get involved and collaborate with us as we embark
on this mission.
