Management challenges and opportunities The 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) aims to “ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival”. Polar bears are currently listed under Appendix II of CITES, which “lists species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled”15

. Hence, all

international trade in polar bear parts is governed by CITES. In March 2010 a proposal to CITES to reclassify the polar bear as a species threatened with extinction, effectively banning the commercial trade of polar bear hides, teeth, and claws, was rejected by a majority of governments, led by Canada. They recognized insufficient scientific evidence to support an Appendix I listing and the role of polar bears in the culture and economy of Indigenous Peoples16

. However, it is argued17 that neither CITES nor other

conventions have the legal instruments required for the Arctic nations to address and protect polar bear habitats. They refer instead to the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, signed in 1976 by all Arctic countries with polar bear populations (i.e., Canada, the US, Norway, Russia, and Denmark/Greenland) and reaffirmed for an indefinite period in 1981. The Agreement’s Article II says that “each Contracting Party shall take appropriate action to protect the ecosystems of which polar bears are a part”. Although the word “shall” may be considered binding for the parties to the Agreement, the enabling legislation for Article II is, however, domestic because Article VI states that “each contracting Party shall enact and enforce such legislation and other measures as may be necessary for the purpose of giving effect to this Agreement”. This may pose particular challenges when impacts from climate change, trans-boundary pollution, and habitat fragmentation may have far-reaching consequences for Arctic terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Due to increased concerns about the negative effect of global warming on polar bears, the parties to the Agreement at their meeting in March 2009 decided to refer the climate change problem related to polar bears to international climate negotiations.

In addition to the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, there are two bilateral agreements on management of polar bears, one between USA and Russia on the conservation and management of the Alaska-Chukotka polar bear subpopulation; and the other between USA and Canada (Inuvialuit-Inupiat) on polar bear management in the Southern Beaufort Sea7,18

. In

late 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding was also signed by Greenland, Nunavut and Canada for the management of the shared Baffin Bay and Kane Basin polar bear subpopulation12

.

Although Indigenous/local stakeholders were not involved in the negotiations over the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, there was always a clear understanding that local and Indigenous Peoples should be allowed to continue their traditional hunting. Article III of the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears addresses local and Indigenous People’s polar bear hunting by saying “by local people using traditional methods in the exercise of their traditional rights and in accordance with the laws of that Party”. This Article was particularly important for USA and Canada with their large Inuit population, and for Greenland’s Indigenous People, whose traditional hunting and fishing is important for their livelihood and whose rights were already recognized in national legislation.

The intent of the Agreement is for all jurisdictions to consult with each other and to continue to collaborate on issues related to the long-term conservation of polar bears10

. Recent development of

co-management agreements and greater involvement of local people and hunters are improving the management of polar bears, with traditional ecological knowledge being incorporated into polar bear conservation plans and initiatives. Compared to the situation in the 1960s and 1970s, polar bear harvest management is vastly improved2

. The “Inuvialuit-Inupiat Polar

Bear Management Agreement in the Southern Beaufort Sea” is an example of good cooperation on management of a shared population. Indigenous user groups from Canada and Alaska meet annually to consult on research and management in order to ensure sustainable management of the shared Southern Beaufort Sea population19

. RELEVANCE OF MULTI-LATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS 75 I

II