Sustainable management of polar bear in a changing world

Date/time: December 2, 17:00-18:30

Room: Mesanin 2

Session organizers: Anne Kendrick, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and John Cheechoo, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

The pivotal role of Canadian Inuit claims based co-management boards and governments in setting research priorities and meeting multi-jurisdictional polar bear management decision-making needs will be outlined. The session will highlight the role of these institutions in matching these needs with the values and realities of Inuit communities living alongside polar bear. Linked presentations will include representatives from a network of organizations working actively with co-management systems. An online information tool designed to raise awareness of the complexity of Canada’s polar bear management activities and to provide timely communication of changes in the status and population trends of Canada’s polar bear subpopulations – two-thirds of the global population – will be demonstrated. An interactive discussion of the adaptive approaches employed in management decision-making, multi-year efforts to include Inuit traditional knowledge in decision-making and insights into alternative research methods employed in recent years will round out the session.

Several of the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment’s key recommendations will be addressed, such as sustainable management, the incorporation of traditional knowledge, and the design of outreach tools to increase public awareness of the importance of polar bear for Inuit and the adaptive approaches to manage the changes faced by both polar bear and Inuit. 

• John Cheechoo, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami:  pdf Inuit commitments to the conservation, management and sustainable use of polar bear (755 KB)
• Frank Pokiak, Inuvialuit Game Council:  pdf The Inuvialuit-Inupiat Polar Bear Management Agreement: community-driven management of a species across an international border (824 KB)
• James Eetoolook, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated: The importance of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in wildlife co-management systems in Nunavut
• Adamie Delisle-Alaku, Makivik Corporation:  pdf Nunavimmiut perspectives on polar bear in times of change (2.06 MB)
• James  Goudie, Nunatsiavut Government:  pdf Managing our future: polar bear management in Nunatsiavut (321 KB)
• Anne Kendrick, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami on behalf of Seth Stapleton, University of Minnesota:  pdf Alternative polar bear monitoring methodologies (97 KB)

Session theme: Mainstreaming biodiversity: linking Arctic ecosystems to society