Management status and monitoring
The need to streamline and coordinate the circumpolar monitoring of polar bears is becoming increasingly important. This will place higher demands on international coordination and cooperation than we see in current activities.
Norway signed the Polar Bear Agreement in 1973, together with Canada, Denmark (Greenland), the USA and Russia. These countries manage the world’s polar bear populations, and in recent years have met more often than before, due to the serious threats the species faces.
After the agreement was signed in 1973, ratified in 1976, and reaffirmed in 1981, the parties did not meet until the United States requested an informal meeting in 2007. At this meeting, Norway, as a signatory to the agreement, was asked to convene the parties again. The first official party meeting after 1981 was held in Tromsø in March 2009, and here the nations agreed to start the development of an action plan, and to meet every two years. Party meetings have subsequently been held in Iqaluit in 2011, in Moscow in 2013, in Greenland in 2015, where a final action plan was approved, in Alaska in 2018, in Longyearbyen on Svalbard in March 2020, and most recently in a virtual meeting in November 2023.
According to the Polar Bear Agreement, Norway is obliged to: “take appropriate action to protect the ecosystems of which polar bears are a part, with special attention to habitat components such as denning and feeding sites and migration patterns, and shall manage polar bear populations in accordance with sound conservation practices based on the best available scientific data». According to the agreement, the countries have undertaken to protect the polar bear’s habitats, but there has been a challenge in following up on this agreement when it comes to protecting important sea areas in international waters.
The administrative authorities provide for strict restrictions on traffic and other human activity in den areas and other important living areas in Norwegian waters. The need to streamline and coordinate the circumpolar monitoring of polar bears is growing. This will place higher demands on international coordination and cooperation than we see in current activities.
Hunting
In Svalbard, the polar bear was subjected to harsh hunting and trapping for a hundred years, but after 1973 polar bear hunting in this area has been illegal (see capture statistics for polar bears in Svalbard).
The population has recovered significantly since the protection 40 years ago. Up to three bears are typically shot each year in Svalbard in self-defense or euthanized due to damage to property. Despite the number of encounters between bears and man likely have increased in recent years concomitant with increased human traffic within the archipelago, the number of bears killed have dropped in recent years.
In Canada, Alaska and Greenland, approximately 700 polar bears are shot annually. Polar bear hunting is illegal in the Russian Arctic, but an unknown number of polar bears are still shot there every year.
The need to streamline and coordinate the circumpolar monitoring of polar bears is becoming increasingly important. This will place higher demands on international coordination and cooperation than we see in current activities.
Norway signed the Polar Bear Agreement in 1973, together with Canada, Denmark (Greenland), the USA and Russia. These countries manage the world’s polar bear populations, and in recent years have met more often than before, due to the serious threats the species faces.
After the agreement was signed in 1973, ratified in 1976, and reaffirmed in 1981, the parties did not meet until the United States requested an informal meeting in 2007. At this meeting, Norway, as a signatory to the agreement, was asked to convene the parties again. The first official party meeting after 1981 was held in Tromsø in March 2009, and here the nations agreed to start the development of an action plan, and to meet every two years. Party meetings have subsequently been held in Iqaluit in 2011, in Moscow in 2013, in Greenland in 2015, where a final action plan was approved, in Alaska in 2018, in Longyearbyen on Svalbard in March 2020, and most recently in a virtual meeting in November 2023.
According to the Polar Bear Agreement, Norway is obliged to: “take appropriate action to protect the ecosystems of which polar bears are a part, with special attention to habitat components such as denning and feeding sites and migration patterns, and shall manage polar bear populations in accordance with sound conservation practices based on the best available scientific data». According to the agreement, the countries have undertaken to protect the polar bear’s habitats, but there has been a challenge in following up on this agreement when it comes to protecting important sea areas in international waters.
The administrative authorities provide for strict restrictions on traffic and other human activity in den areas and other important living areas in Norwegian waters. The need to streamline and coordinate the circumpolar monitoring of polar bears is growing. This will place higher demands on international coordination and cooperation than we see in current activities.
Hunting
In Svalbard, the polar bear was subjected to harsh hunting and trapping for a hundred years, but after 1973 polar bear hunting in this area has been illegal (see capture statistics for polar bears in Svalbard).
The population has recovered significantly since the protection 40 years ago. Up to three bears are typically shot each year in Svalbard in self-defense or euthanized due to damage to property. Despite the number of encounters between bears and man likely have increased in recent years concomitant with increased human traffic within the archipelago, the number of bears killed have dropped in recent years.
In Canada, Alaska and Greenland, approximately 700 polar bears are shot annually. Polar bear hunting is illegal in the Russian Arctic, but an unknown number of polar bears are still shot there every year.
