The 90 North Foundation’s proposed solution is to establish a Marine Protected Area, potentially with Fully Protected status, for the Central Arctic Ocean, through an international legal instrument by 2030 – the Central Arctic Ocean Marine Reserve.

As a Marine Protected Area covering the 2.8 million sq km of international waters around the North Pole, it would be the world’s most iconic and largest wildlife reserve - with ‘Fully Protected’ MPA status providing the highest level of protection for its biodiversity and ecosystem services.

As the world’s least disturbed and largest protected marine ecosystem, the Central Arctic Ocean Marine Reserve would make a significant contribution to the global community’s objective to protect at least 30% of our global marine environment by 2030.

Such protective status would prohibit all fishing, cargo, mining, and other exploratory, extractive and damaging activities involving surface vessels - but would allow scientific research, military and emergency response vessels.

And the Foundation’s proposed alternative trans-Arctic shipping route will ensure international cargo vessels, intent on exploiting shorter international trading routes via the Bering Strait and Arctic Ocean basin despite the risks to the Arctic Ocean’s ecosystem, will do so outside of the Central Arctic Ocean Marine Reserve.

The resulting area will cover 2.8 million sq km of ocean, making it the largest marine reserve in the world, and a significant contribution to the global community’s objective to protect at least 30% of the planet’s marine environment.

Conservation Advocacy

The Foundation’s advocacy objective is to secure ‘Marine Protected Area’ status for the international waters of the Central Arctic Ocean by 2030, with ‘Fully Protected MPA’ status giving the highest form of conservation protection.

This objective involves working with the relevant commercial sectors, environmental organisations, and representatives of nation states to catalyse a consensus for this end-goal

Such protective status would prohibit all fishing, mining, and other exploratory, extractive and damaging activities, but allow scientific research. And the Foundation’s proposed alternative trans-Arctic shipping route will ensure international cargo vessels, intent on exploiting shorter international trading routes via the Bering Strait and Arctic Ocean basin despite the risks to the Arctic Ocean’s ecosystem, will do so outside of the Central Arctic Ocean Marine Reserve.

With the Convention on Biological Diversity classifying the Central Arctic Ocean as an ‘Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area’ (2015), the UN International Maritime Organization have ratified its Polar Code (2017) for shipping operations in the region, and the Arctic Council having orchestrated a temporary international ban on commercial fishing (2021), it is evident key sectors, organisations and nations are aware of the special circumstances, vulnerabilities and risks to the Central Arctic Ocean’s biodiversity and ecosystem.

As an independent, research-based organisation committed to promoting future research that highlights and quantifies the risks to the region’s biodiversity and ecosystem services, the Foundation aspires to become a trusted and valued contributor to the formal processes and stages that will deliver the envisaged Central Arctic Ocean Marine Reserve.

Our goal is to build the scientific case for the optimal protective measures. In other words, establish the cost of not protecting the region's biodiversity.

An international collaborative effort

Delivery of the Foundation’s vision involves building engagement and consensus within the circumpolar Indigenous Peoples, international commercial sectors, global environmental organisations and individual nation states.

While the Indigenous Peoples are dependent on the health of the food web within the Arctic Ocean, policy progress will also depend heavily on the degree of support provided by the commercial sectors including fishing, shipping, mining, tourism, and other sectors whose activities rely on the use of surface vessels and sea-based structures.

The Arctic Council has provided exemplary leadership for the world’s national fishing fleets through its work establishing the ‘International Agreement to Prevent Unregulated Fishing in the High Seas of the Central Arctic Ocean’ (2021), an outstanding diplomatic achievement, and all the more so for its emphasis on the precautionary principle.

While several intermediate policy steps will be necessary, the Foundation’s long-term aim may be achieved through an international instrument that links a legally-enforceable ban on commercial fishing with an upgraded IMO Polar Code (that includes a ban on surface-vessel access to the Central Arctic Ocean, excluding research vessels, and designated trans-Arctic Ocean shipping lanes).

In addition, the hydrocarbon sector is thought to have limited commercial interest in the Central Arctic Ocean as the Arctic Ocean’s seabed geology suggests most deposits lie within the territorial waters of the coastal states rather than further north.

By 2100, without significant interventions, more than 50% of the world's marine species may stand on the brink of extinction. UNESCO, 2020

So much to be gained by conserving the region for future generations - rather than exploiting, degrading and damaging its value for short term gains.

To join us in our work to protect this valuable ecosystem.

Below you will find resources and information on how to get involved and collaborate with us as we embark on this mission.