NICE, France—With leaders gathered in France for the 3^rd UN Ocean Conference, prominent Arctic experts are calling on countries to pause industrial development in the Central Arctic Ocean.

In a letter published today, over a thousand scientists from around the world—including leading scholars from Canada, China, Greenland, France, Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States—urged nations to limit new industrial activities in the Central Arctic Ocean and adopt a precautionary approach based on Indigenous and scientific knowledge. This would build on an existing agreement between several countries and Arctic Indigenous Peoples to prevent unregulated high seas fisheries.

“The Central Arctic Ocean is a crucial part of the Arctic whose ecosystems and sea ice are relied on by Indigenous communities and help regulate the global climate,” said Dr. Henry Huntington, Ocean Conservancy’s Director of Science, Arctic & Northern Waters Team, who helped lead the effort. “With new industries being proposed for this critical sea, it’s essential we again allow Indigenous knowledge and science to lead the way. Only an international agreement that adopts a precautionary approach can protect this critically important international area.”

The Central Arctic Ocean has long been covered in year-round sea ice. However, ice coverage has been decreasing due to climate change, making the area accessible to industrial development for the first time. With new threats now emerging, Ocean Conservancy and Oceans North are advocating for another international agreement that would pause shipping and deep-sea mining in this unique sea.

“The Central Arctic Ocean is connected to coastal seas that Arctic Indigenous Peoples have used since time immemorial,” said Hilu Tagoona, Oceans North’s Senior Arctic Advisor. “That’s resulted in a unique system of knowledge, and also a unique responsibility towards these waters. The CAO Fisheries Agreement made history by formally recognizing the role that Indigenous knowledge can and should play alongside science in determining the region’s future, and the success of that model has set a new, much-needed standard for inclusion in the issues that affect us as Arctic Peoples.”

For more information, please contact:

Alex Tesar
Communications Director
Oceans North
[email protected]

Learn more about the campaign to protect the Central Arctic Ocean at central-arctic-ocean.org