The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced last month that the 2016 sea ice minimum reached the second lowest point on record, a clear warning sign that world leaders need to take bold action. This year’s minimum extent is well below the long-term average, and global scientists warn that Arctic sea ice is not showing any signs of recovery.

The 10 lowest extents on record have all occurred in the last 10 years, and NASA is now calling the shrinking ice coverage “the new normal.” The changes to the Arctic Ocean, specifically, come with serious impacts to the residents and ecosystems of the region. Four million people live in the Arctic and rely on healthy waters for hunting, fishing and harvesting.

With these changes – caused by the burning and production of fossil fuels – comes a collective opportunity and responsibility to protect the region’s increasingly open marine areas that are vulnerable to the risks of unsustainable development and industrialization.

Much of that responsibility falls to the Arctic nations, meeting this week in Portland with Arctic Indigenous organizations, observer nations and nongovernmental organizations at the Senior Arctic Official meeting of the Arctic Council.

Maine is increasingly in a position to be a gateway for Arctic commerce on the East Coast of the United States – something that was previously not a consideration when icy waters limited activity.

The increasing vulnerability of the region necessitates coordinated protection, especially for the Arctic Ocean, which includes both territorial waters and high seas. Despite its place as home to many coastal communities, its ecological significance and its increasing vulnerability because of climate change, the Arctic Ocean remains one of the least protected places on Earth.

Marine protected areas and reserves are an effective measure to better protect it from threats of resource extraction such as industrial-scale fishing and oil and gas drilling, as well as increased shipping.

President Obama set a historic example of this when he recently announced the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Monument, the first marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean. The main motivation the president claimed for this unprecedented move was that designating areas such as this “will help make the oceans more resilient to climate change.”

The same is urgently needed in the Arctic, and the Arctic Council can help make it happen. In a previous joint statement, the United States and Canada reaffirmed goals to designate 10 percent of national waters as protected by 2020 and to be leaders in engaging all Arctic nations to develop a pan-Arctic network of marine protected areas. The president’s move in Maine marks a good start to achieving those goals, but both the United States and Canada must kick their Arctic ambitions into high gear.

The Arctic Council, as a body of key regional leaders and stakeholders, should embrace its responsibility to advance marine stewardship. This year, the Arctic Council celebrates 20 years since its inception. In that time, the Arctic environment has changed significantly and at an accelerating rate.

World leaders, governing bodies and advisory councils must meet that level of change with a corresponding level of urgent action. The Arctic Council must support other global and regional efforts toward protection of the high seas, including the Arctic Ocean, and should enact a comprehensive regional agreement that establishes a network of marine protected areas and reserves in territorial waters.

Among the Arctic states, the United States has laudably led efforts to improve protection of the Arctic Ocean, both in and out of the forum of the Arctic Council. The Arctic Council, however, has thus far failed to make significant progress. It is, therefore, critical that the final six months of the United States chairmanship be devoted to this, and that Finland embrace the mandate to deliver a regional agreement by the end of its chairmanship in 2019 and to ensure that the current efforts don’t falter.

The Arctic Council is required by its charter to coordinate efforts toward sustainable development and environmental protection. It is in a powerful and critical position to move forward at the pace and with the decisiveness needed, to take significant action for the region.

The Arctic and the rest of the world cannot wait for this. Now is the time to act.

 

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