by the Working Group acceptable, it communicates these back to the relevant
governmental bodies.
Apart from recommending harvest levels, the Joint Commission furthermore
serves as the hub for harvest data, scientific activities and traditional knowledge
surrounding polar bears in the region of applicability. The Joint Commission
comprises eight members: one from the government of Canada; three from Nunavut
(one governmental, one wildlife manager, one business); and four from Greenland
(two governmental, one wildlife manager, one hunter organisation). De facto it is
therefore an indigenous co-management body.
7.6
Managing Polar Bears in Alaska and Chukotka
The Canadian Inuvialuit are not the only group having entered into an agreement
with the Alaskan side. After all, there are polar bear populations that are shared
between Alaska and Chukotka in the Russian Federation. After the end of the Cold
War and with the increase in Arctic cooperation facilitated by the AEPS, in 1995 US
and Russian officials concerned with polar bears began meeting in order to develop a
joint management plan. Several US agencies and their Russian counterparts were
involved in these meetings. By 1997 the US Fish and Wildlife Service, a key player
in the meetings, had finalised an environmental assessment for the region and
formally requested the State Department for the authorisation to start negotiations
for a bilateral agreement on polar bear conservation with Russia.
The agreement was negotiated between January 1998 and finalised in March
2000. On 16 October 2000, the US and Russia signed the Agreement on the
Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka Polar Bear Population.
20
This legally-binding agreement entered into force in September 2007 and advances
the terms of the ACPB in the Bering, Chukchi and eastern East Siberian Seas. While
in principle a regional version of the Polar Bear Agreement, it nevertheless differs in
some way. First and foremost, the Alaska-Chukotka Agreement is fundamentally
more geared towards the inclusion of native peoples. Throughout the Agreement the
role of native peoples is acknowledged and reaffirmed and already the Preamble
highlights the “essential role of the native people of Alaska and Chukotka in the
conservation of the Alaska-Chukotka population of polar bears.”
21 Second, in 1994
the US amended the Marine Mammal Protection Act to allow the importation of
polar bear hides from qualified sport hunts in Canada. This marked a significant step
towards indigenous self-determination as to how to use their quotas and what to do
with the yields. When the ACPB was concluded in 1973, this amendment had not
been in place and a total ban on any imports of marine mammal products existed.
Therefore, the 2000 Alaska-Chukotka Agreement explicitly states that it is aimed not
20 Agreement on the Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka Polar Bear Population,
16 October 2000.
21 Ibid., Preamble.
168
7 The International Legal Framework for Polar Bears
governmental bodies.
Apart from recommending harvest levels, the Joint Commission furthermore
serves as the hub for harvest data, scientific activities and traditional knowledge
surrounding polar bears in the region of applicability. The Joint Commission
comprises eight members: one from the government of Canada; three from Nunavut
(one governmental, one wildlife manager, one business); and four from Greenland
(two governmental, one wildlife manager, one hunter organisation). De facto it is
therefore an indigenous co-management body.
7.6
Managing Polar Bears in Alaska and Chukotka
The Canadian Inuvialuit are not the only group having entered into an agreement
with the Alaskan side. After all, there are polar bear populations that are shared
between Alaska and Chukotka in the Russian Federation. After the end of the Cold
War and with the increase in Arctic cooperation facilitated by the AEPS, in 1995 US
and Russian officials concerned with polar bears began meeting in order to develop a
joint management plan. Several US agencies and their Russian counterparts were
involved in these meetings. By 1997 the US Fish and Wildlife Service, a key player
in the meetings, had finalised an environmental assessment for the region and
formally requested the State Department for the authorisation to start negotiations
for a bilateral agreement on polar bear conservation with Russia.
The agreement was negotiated between January 1998 and finalised in March
2000. On 16 October 2000, the US and Russia signed the Agreement on the
Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka Polar Bear Population.
20
This legally-binding agreement entered into force in September 2007 and advances
the terms of the ACPB in the Bering, Chukchi and eastern East Siberian Seas. While
in principle a regional version of the Polar Bear Agreement, it nevertheless differs in
some way. First and foremost, the Alaska-Chukotka Agreement is fundamentally
more geared towards the inclusion of native peoples. Throughout the Agreement the
role of native peoples is acknowledged and reaffirmed and already the Preamble
highlights the “essential role of the native people of Alaska and Chukotka in the
conservation of the Alaska-Chukotka population of polar bears.”
21 Second, in 1994
the US amended the Marine Mammal Protection Act to allow the importation of
polar bear hides from qualified sport hunts in Canada. This marked a significant step
towards indigenous self-determination as to how to use their quotas and what to do
with the yields. When the ACPB was concluded in 1973, this amendment had not
been in place and a total ban on any imports of marine mammal products existed.
Therefore, the 2000 Alaska-Chukotka Agreement explicitly states that it is aimed not
20 Agreement on the Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka Polar Bear Population,
16 October 2000.
21 Ibid., Preamble.
168
7 The International Legal Framework for Polar Bears