Commercial vessels
bring stressors & risks
to an undisturbed ecosystem.

As the floating ice-reef recedes and creates a newly accessible ocean, the biodiversity within the Arctic Ocean, already challenged by stressors resulting from the impacts of human greenhouse gas emissions, now faces the introduction of direct impacts from surface vessel activity.

The most biologically active layer of these waters (the uppermost) is warming and acidifying faster than anywhere on Earth – and the consequent environmental stressors on, and risks to, species are further intensified by the Arctic Amplification Effect.

The direct impacts, stressors and risks posed by vessels involved in commercial fishing, international shipping, and hydrocarbon/mineral exploration and extraction put at heightened risk the sustainability of the Arctic Ocean’s biodiversity and associated ecosystem services.

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Proposed solution:
Protect this global commons
for global public benefit

90 North Foundation’s provisionally proposed solution, subject to further research, is to have put into effect a sequence of specific conservation measures before eventually establishing an ‘Other Effective area-based Conservation Measure’ (OECM) for the international waters of the Central Arctic Ocean, through an international legal instrument by 2037, referred to for the time being as the North Pole Marine Reserve.

As an OECM covering 2.8 million sq km around the North Pole, it would likely be the world’s most iconic and largest wildlife reserve, providing the highest level of conservation protection for its biodiversity and ecosystem services.

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