Tag Archives: WWF

Northwest Passage update: Wales, Alaska

16 July, 2009GeneralNorthwest Passage expedition, WWFuser

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Cameron Dueck
As the Silent Sound approached the Bering Strait we had to make a
choice. Little Diomede or Wales, Alaska? A little research showed that the
community in Diomede would charge us $100 per crew to come ashore.
Meanwhile in Wales, the western most community on the North American continent, we had a contact that could introduce us to local community leaders, so we opted for Wales.
And in Wales, where weather beaten homes cling to the sand dunes at the foot
of the Brooks Mountains, we heard stories of how climate change looks from
the ground. The 150 people living there are largely subsistence hunters, and
their oral history of the place goes back generations, so they know a change
in nature when they see one.
Frank Oxereok Jr was one of the hunters that picked us up from the beach
after we made a harrowing landing in the surf on our small rowboat. Baseball
cap pulled low and sitting astride a quad bike, he was the picture of the
modern Inupiat hunter. He’s not a climate change expert or scientist, but he
had a long list of changes he’s seen in the land and weather in recent
years.
“There is much more southerly wind now than five years ago. We get more
southerlies in the winter, and this causes all the ice to bank up on the
shores and we can’t go out and hunt,” he said. “Something is happening. We
hear a lot about global warming. All I know is that when you get cold and
warm weather together you get wind like that.”
Little Diomede, which lies in the shadow of Russia’s Big Diomede in the
middle of the Bering Strait, did not have an airfield last year because the
ice was too thin. In normal years they smooth out the sea ice and planes
land on the ice right in front of the village.
“The shore ice is getting thinner and thinner every year,” said Ruben
Ozenna, a longhaired hunter nicknamed Soup by his friends and family. “When
we were young we’d go chip a hole in the ice for ice fishing and it would
take us a whole day to get down to the water. Used to be deeper than I’m
tall, now it’s no problem to dig through.”
Here, all the stories centre on hunting, and woven into the stories are
signs of the changing times as well as bits of family history. And now, they
also contain nuggets of information about climate change.
“The thin ice makes it a lot more dangerous for hunting. You have to work a
lot faster now, because the weather can change so fast. You can end up
adrift on a floe. My uncle when out hunting and he ended up floating to
Point Hope. Then he went there a few more times after that because he found
a wife there.”
But most worrying to them both are the changes in the wildlife they rely on
for food. Warmer temperatures mean southern species are moving north, they
said.
“We saw sea otters on the ice this spring. That’s unheard of. It’s the first
year we’ve seen that. Next thing you know we’ll have sharks up here,” Soup
says, shaking his head in disbelief.
Find out more about the expeditions
Official site: Northeast Passage 2009
Official site: Open Passage Expedition

Tom Arnbom, Northeast Passage day 1: Leaving Longyearbyen

13 July, 2009GeneralNortheast Passage expedition, svalbard, WWFuser

The sailing vessel The Explorer

It is a beautiful day and along the cliff edge east of Longyearbyen there are several swarms of dovkies (little auk). They look like black smoke flying back and forth in the sky. I am onboard the sailing vessel Explorer which will bring the expedition members to the Pacific through the Northeast Passage. We are about to head north to Ny-Ålesund and visit scientists to know the latest about climate changes. Yesterday, I met a scientist on Polarstern (a large german research vessel) and he told me that they have discovered large areas of bubbles with methane west of Svalbard. It is to early to say if it has been going on for a long time or is a new “thing”. They will head out to research the areas to find out more.
Methane is a very active green house gas and more and more evidence show that this gas is leaking out in many places in the Arctic. I will come back on this.
Hopefully we will encounter walruses to night – but more on this in the next blog.

A tale of two passages

9 July, 2009Generalbeaufort, Northwest Passage expedition, WWFuser

First blog from the Open Passage Expedition: Ice report

The Canadian Ice Service issued their July ice report last week, and it
shows a faster than normal breakup in many parts of the Arctic even though
temperatures were normal in late June. Some parts are opening up a bit
slower than normal, but from our position aboard the Silent Sound the key
ice choke points in the Western Arctic appear to be opening up well on time.
As we’re attempting a West to East transit, we’re most interested in the
areas around Pt Barrow and the Amundsen Gulf at the moment.
The report says that the breakup for the Western Arctic is running one to
three weeks ahead of schedule in many areas, and as much as a month fast in
isolated regions. Point Barrow, normally a key point holding back traffic
from the Bering Sea, sounds like it is mostly open, so we’re rushing to get
North as we expected we’d have to wait for that.
In Amundsen Gulf the fast ice fractured more than a week early. “A 60 to
100-mile wide area containing very little ice developed along the southern
Beaufort Sea west of Banks Island all the way to just east of Point Barrow,”
the report says. Music to a sailor’s ears, but alarming for those that
depend on the ice platform for spring hunting or migration.
The ice service predicts that the Bering Strait ice pack will remain well
offshore, allowing us easy sailing to Point Barrow. By late July all the ice
will have fractured in the southern route of the Northwest Passage from
western Barrow Strait through Peel Sound, across Victoria Strait, Queen Maud
and Coronation Gulfs. It sounds like it could be another year of clear
sailing for pleasure yachts.
Elsewhere in the Arctic, breakup is about a week behind schedule in Hudson
Bay and about normal in Davis Strait.
The breakup pattern for the west Greenland Coast, Nares Strait, northern
Baffin Bay, eastern Barrow Strait and Cumberland Sound is three to four
weeks ahead of normal with only isolated patches of broken fast ice showing
in those areas. Elsewhere, the breakup pattern is normal.
Find out more about the expeditions
Official site: Northeast Passage 2009
Official site: Open Passage Expedition

Climate wars 2030

11 June, 2009GeneralCanada, climate, WWFuser

img_0172_edited Clive Tesar, Head of Communications for the Arctic Programme, attended the ‘2030 North’ conference in Ottawa, Canada. The challenge of the conference was to try to imagine what life in Canada’s North will be like in 2030, and to devise a plan to deal with that new reality.
By Clive Tesar
WWF’s contribution to the 2030 North conference was to broaden the topic of climate change outside of our traditional area of wildlife, and to focus instead on the security aspects of climate collapse. This does not mean that we are changing our area of interest, just that we realize that not everyone is as interested as we are in saving the natural world for its own sake.
To reach a wider audience, we need to talk about the wider implications of Arctic climate change. The Arctic Programme has commissioned a study on Arctic Climate and Security. The study, led by Dr. Rob Huebert, a well-known Canadian expert on Arctic security issues, is to be released later this year.
At our ‘climate wars 2030’ event, Huebert was able to give people a sneak preview of where his research is heading. He detailed the recent build-up of military interest and capacity in the north. While not suggesting that conflict in the north is imminent, his research shows that various parties are certainly preparing for that possibility.
Huebert was joined on the stage by Gwynne Dyer, a distinguished London-based broadcaster and author. Dyer’s latest book is called ‘climate wars’, and details how a warming world can easily boil over in series of global flashpoints.
The thesis is simple, but powerful. Projections for a global temperature increase above 2 degrees mean many of the world’s people will go hungry. The temperature tolerance of the world’s main food crops will be exceeded in tropical and subtropical regions. “India will lose 25% of its agricultural production at two degrees hotter,” says Dyer. He says figures published only fleetingly from China suggest the giant nation could lose up to 38% of its agricultural production.
As agricultural production declines, says Dyer, “Your most dangerous neighbour lies between you and the equator.” His eyes roamed the room, watching the point sink in for a Canadian audience – in Canada, that means a hungry United States that may be in no mood for the niceties of international relations. “So the generals have reason to be concerned” adds Dyer. “If I was Russian, I’d be worried about the Chinese running out of food.”
It was a powerful presentation, and definitely seemed to make the audience aware that climate change is not just about disappearing ice, and thinner polar bears, but a global problem that requires an urgent global solution.
Clive Tesar, Head of Communications for the Arctic Programme, attended the ‘2030 North’ conference in Ottawa, Canada. The challenge of the conference was to try to imagine what life in Canada’s North will be like in 2030, and to devise a plan to deal with that new reality.

Selling Arctic snake oil

8 June, 2009GeneralCanada, WWFuser

Whose North?

3 June, 2009GeneralCanada, WWFuser

Stephen Kakfwi, former Premier of Canada’s Northwest Territories speaks to the 2030 North conference

Clive Tesar, Head of Communications for the Arctic Programme, attended the ‘2030 North’ conference in Ottawa, Canada. The challenge of the conference was to try to imagine what life in Canada’s North will be like in 2030, and to devise a plan to deal with that new reality.
By Clive Tesar
A central question about policy for the future of the Arctic is “Who will be invited (or will invite themselves) to be involved in setting arctic wide policies?”
It’s a question that has come up several times over the second day of the ‘2030 North’ conference.
There are several different legal considerations – for instance there is talk of the ‘Arctic 5’, the five states that have coastline in the Arctic (Canada, US, Russia, Norway and Denmark (Greenland). Other suggestions say the Arctic Council countries (the Arctic 5 plus Iceland, Sweden, and Finland) should be the ones to make the rules for the Arctic.
But as Rob Huebert, of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary pointed out “Countries we were not thinking about are becoming major players.” As Huebert notes, the South Koreans are now world leaders on developing ice-capable vessels. South Korean shipyards are currently building tankers supposed to be capable of carrying liquefied natural gas though icy waters. Huebert pointed out that China currently has the world’s largest Arctic research vessel.
What was only briefly mentioned in the whole discussion was the place of Indigenous peoples in discussions about the Arctic’s future. Earlier this year, the Inuit Circumpolar Council released its Declaration on Sovereignty (pdf file, right click to download). Part of this declaration reads, “The conduct of international relations in the Arctic and the resolution of international disputes in the Arctic are not the sole preserve of Arctic states or other states; they are also within the purview of the Arctic’s indigenous peoples.”
While the discussion has the most obvious bearing on future development of arctic renewable and non-renewable resource, there is also a strong connection to climate change issues. The whole discussion of Arctic resource development would likely not be reaching such a fevered pitch, if was not for the fact that shrinking ice cover is expected to make Arctic resources more accessible. In other words, a governance regime that will protect the interests of northerners is a key plank in their ability to adapt to a changing Arctic.
This week, Clive Tesar, Head of Communications for the Arctic Programme, is at the ‘2030 North’ conference in Ottawa, Canada. The challenge of the conference is to try to imagine what life in Canada’s North will be like in 2030, and to devise a plan to deal with that new reality.

‘Climate change is changing who we are’

2 June, 2009GeneralCanada, climate, indigenous people, WWFuser

This week, Clive Tesar, Head of Communications for the Arctic Programme, is at the ‘2030 North’ conference in Ottawa, Canada. The challenge of the conference is to try to imagine what life in Canada’s North will be like in 2030, and to devise a plan to deal with that new reality.
Last night, the conference opened with an address by Inuit leader, Sheila Watt Cloutier. She has won many environmental prizes around the world for her work on negotiating an international treaty on toxic chemicals. Her work now focuses very much on what she sees as the biggest challenge now facing her people, and people across the northern world. This is how she describes the size and impact of that problem; “Climate change is changing who we are, where we come from, and where we want to be.”
Watt-Cloutier described the several changes she has already seen in her life from climate change. She spoke of seeing her childhood home in northern Quebec change from a landscape of small shrubs to one of tall trees. She also spoke of less benign changes, of the challenges that disappearing sea ice pose to a culture that relies on sea ice as a highway and hunting ground.
Watt Cloutier also talked about her concerns about the increasing friction in the Arctic, and its increasing militarization. While she is not opposed to the military, she believes sovereignty is best achieved by keeping the sea ice frozen. If the Arctic seas remain frozen, there is no argument about who owns tights of passage through them, no need to guard against marine incursions by other countries.
The sea ice is likely to continue melting, even if governments begin to take urgent and effective action on climate change, a fact Watt Cloutier acknowledges. This is why she is proposing a treaty for the Arctic, a treaty that would include the Arctic’s Indigenous peoples in an international agreement to jointly manage resources. She argues that Indigenous peoples, as people who know the northern environment best, are best suited to exercise a role of stewardship of the north.

Tracking the Beaufort bears: Day 15

4 May, 2009From the field, General, Polar bearsbeaufort, polar bears, WWFuser

Tracking the Beaufort bears: Day 14

1 May, 2009From the field, General, Polar bearsbeaufort, polar bears, WWFuser

WWF’s polar bear coordinator, Geoff York, keeps up his field knowledge with trips out onto the ice to check on the condition of the bears. This year, he is keeping a daily blog of his experiences over two weeks. Keep visiting this blog for regular updates and live the life of a polar bear biologist.
By Geoff York
Blue sky morning! Light winds out of the east and temperatures are still hovering around -20 C. We plan to launch at half past 9 and set about preparing food and gear for a long day. When the weather allows, we can spend nearly 11 hours out on the ice, so everyone packs a lunch, a variety of snacks, and something to drink. Working in the cold definitely increases your caloric demand!
We file a flight plan to work the northwest this morning and launch. This will be my last day out on the ice, and it is shaping up to be a good one as we encounter a lone male just 10 miles out from Barter Island. We are safely on the ground with our sedated male by 10 AM and are back out searching within an hour. He is a known bear and in good condition.
largeadultmale As we fly out to where we had seen the yearlings and sow yesterday, we hit on a great set of tracks- a breeding pair. We end up following these tracks for over an hour as they make a frenzied spaghetti “pattern” over a 6 km radius. A few other single bears also cross through the scene, but in the end, we cannot find the track makers. We fly out about a mile from this intensively tracked area and do a circle to see where tracks are leaving. We see nothing, so we make a few more passes, but theses bears evade detection today. Breeding pairs can be notoriously difficult as they are often not moving in a directional manner or following habitat.
We decide to abandon this area and are soon on a set of single tracks which lead to another lone male. I remark that I would be happy to work with lone males all day as we settle in and work through this capture. He is marked and again in good condition, save for a few bite marks and scratches- common during mating season. Once we are aloft, it is time to head in for more fuel.
After “feeding” the helicopter, I decide to head due north and search more to the east as this will be our second to last day in this part of Alaska. We come across an active lead system about 56 km offshore. You can see steam rising from the open water and the leads are quickly skimming over. The winds are also clearly picking up from the east and you can see some snow drifting on the surface. We head east on the lead and start noticing a couple of sets of tracks, though they appear old. After about 35 minutes of flying, we learn that the drifting snow is simply making the tracks look old as we encounter another lone male. This guy is a new bear and an older one by the looks of his worn and stained teeth. He weighs in at 480 kg and appears very stout. He also shows signs of the breeding season with a few puncture wounds and one good cut on his side. Luckily bears seem to heal quickly! We capture him in a flat pan of newer ice and it is almost entirely flat. The lack of rough ice and the winds make for a fairly bitter processing on the ground and we all have to take breaks to re-warm our numb fingers from time to time.
It is already early evening when we lift off and continue our work, so I decide to head south east. After a bit of flying without success, we come across a good set of tracks and begin to follow them. This bear is heading to Canada and the same area we had so much luck with earlier in the season. About 10 miles west of the border, we find yet another lone male. I should have been careful what I asked for earlier in the day as it is always nice to encounter a range of bear genders and groups.
The capture is routine, but it is already past 7 PM when we begin our processing on the ground. This time we are in a perfect little pan of ice about 12 m in diameter and surrounded by a tall jumble of ice. The wind protection makes the work much more comfortable and we are happy to see that this is a marked bear as processing will be fairly fast. We are a happy crew as we depart the last bear of the day and make for Kaktovik. It is a beautiful evening for a sunset flight over the sea ice and the evening light is perfect. We land at 8:40 PM and I finally get to bed around midnight.