The Arctic has always been a peopled place. However, for the first time in human history, the continual reductions in summer sea ice are opening the Arctic Ocean to new pressures, opportunities and decisions that will have a profound effect on the future of our planet.
Building on more than 20 years of marine conservation grantmaking, the Moore Foundation is launching the Arctic Ocean Initiative. This 10-year, $270 million effort is designed to support the resilience of the Arctic Ocean so that it can continue to support healthy ecosystems and sustainable fisheries.
The Arctic Ocean is one of the most iconic ecosystems on the planet. The extensive ice edges and spring and summer light create spectacular plankton blooms. This primary productivity is the foundation of a food web that includes deep-sea cold water corals and sponges, all of the world’s polar bears and narwhal, millions migratory birds from each of the world’s continents, over 200 species of fish, and ancient creatures like the Greenland shark, which can live to 300 years old and have inhabited these ice waters for over a million years. Securing a healthy and productive Arctic Ocean is a urgent and critical environmental imperative.
“The Moore Foundation’s long-term commitment to marine stewardship has and science-based policy have helped to strengthen the management of ocean ecosystems, benefitting the people and industries who depend on them,” said Louie Porta, newly appointed program director for the Arctic Ocean Initiative. “I am honored and motivated to lead the next phase of the foundation’s focused marine conservation work.”
The new initiative is a unique opportunity to plan for and manage the Arctic Ocean of the future. With clear, achievable strategies, we will support partners working in the U.S., Canada, Greenland, Norway, and the Central Arctic Ocean. Our aim is to secure the policies and decision-making needed to guarantee the Arctic Ocean is full of life for generations to come.
A vibrant ecosystem
Stewarded for millennia, Arctic Ocean ecosystems are largely intact, incredibly productive, and integrally linked to temperate and tropical ecosystems via global ocean currents and the migratory pathways of seabirds and marine mammals. Arctic sea ice also acts as an air conditioner to help cool the planet.
But the Arctic is facing unprecedented transformation. With the steady diminishment of Arctic sea ice cover in recent decades and the prediction for the Arctic summers to be relatively ice-free for at least a month each year by mid-century, a new ocean basin of resources is becoming available for the first time in human history. Access to living and non-living resources, northward shifts in some fish populations, and new trade corridors will magnify the global importance of the Arctic Ocean.
Despite these rapidly changing conditions, Arctic governments, rightsholders, communities, and organizations are demonstrating leadership to advance conservation and international cooperation. Over the next 10 years, the Arctic Ocean Initiative aims to:
- Protect the most important habitats for Arctic marine mammals, fish and seabirds.
- Secure seascape-wide protections so that the impacts of fishing, shipping and offshore development are effectively managed.
- Partner with Arctic governments, rightsholders, universities and other stakeholders to design and achieve solutions that support the productivity and resilience of Arctic marine ecosystems and the wellbeing of the communities that depend on them.
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