Biennial Meeting of the Parties 2025 (2026)

PBear Range States LOGO Final HR 01 Polar Bear Range States Meeting of the Parties

January 20-23, 2026 (Virtual)

The ninth biennial Meeting of the Parties to the 1973 Polar Bear Agreement originally scheduled on November 4-7, 2025 was held online on January 20-23, 2026.

The purpose of the 2025 (2026) Meeting of the Parties was to:

Provide update on conservation status of polar bears and their habitats throughout their range and in each of the Range States
Address the final review of the 2015-2025 Circumpolar Action Plan (CAP) as well as decide on future plans of collaborative issues
Highlight and discuss other key issues of relevance to polar bear conservation as well as financial and administrative issues in the agreement

Meeting
announcements:

Meeting documents

Annotated agenda

Meeting Agenda (click on the blue ribbons for viewing the agenda for each meeting day)

Direct links to agenda annotations and documents are provided under each agenda item.

{slider title="Agenda - Day 1, January 20, 2026:" class="blue solid icon" open="false" mode="click"}

Agenda Day 1

Start time (UTC)	Duration	Item	Title	Session leads, Rapporteurs and Speakers	Observer participation	Annotations	Documents
15:00	15 min	1	WELCOME TO THE MEETING, practical information	Amalie A. Jessen	Open	⊕
15:15	25 min	2	OPENING STATEMENTS FROM HEADS OF DELEGATION	Session lead: Amalie A. Jessen Rapporteurs: Paninguak' Bendsen and Droplaug Ólafsdóttir	Open	⊕
	5 min	2.1	Greenland	Amalie A. Jessen
	5 min	2.2	Canada	Caroline Ladanowski
	5 min	2.3	Norway	Aina Holst
	5 min	2.4	Russian Federation	Abidat Magomedova
	5 min	2.5	United States	Alice Garrett
15:40	35 min	3	ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS AND STATEMENTS BY OBSERVERS	Session lead: Amalie A Jessen Rapporteurs: Paninguak' Bendsen and Droplaug Ólafsdóttir	Open	⊕
		3.1	Election of Chair	Amalie A. Jessen
		3.2	Election of Rapporteurs	Amalie A. Jessen
		3.3	Adoption of the Agenda	Amalie A. Jessen
		3.4	General rules of procedure for the meeting	Amalie A. Jessen
		3.5	Approval/ admission of observers	Amalie A. Jessen
	25 min	3.6	Statements by Observers (5 minutes each) • Makivvik (Adamie Delisle-Alaku) • Polar Bears International (Emily Ringer) • Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (Gabriel Nirlungayuk) • Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Board (Iola Metuq/ Tommy Palliser) • WWF Global Arctic Programme (Melanie Lancaster)	Various
16:15	15 min		*BREAK*
16:30	45 min	4	SCIENTIFIC REPORTS ON POLAR BEAR CONSERVATION STATUS AND RESEARCH EFFORTS	Session lead: Ernie Cooper	Open	⊕	⊕
	45 min	4.1	IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group updates	Nick Lunn
17:15	20 min		BREAK - Presentation: VIDEO & DISCUSSION: NANUK NARRATIVES: INUIT VOICES ON POLAR BEARS	David Borish		⊕
17:35	45 min	5	INDIGENOUS AND TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE (ITEK)	Session lead & Rapporteur: Dominique Henri	Open	⊕	⊕
	45 min	5.1	Working Together: Fostering Indigenous Knowledge in Polar Bear Conservation, a presentation by the Polar Bear Technical Committee Indigenous Knowledge Working Group	Allison Thompson, Jason Dicker, Jennifer Smith, and Frankie Jean-Gagnon
18:20	150 min (60+60)	6	COUNTRY MANAGEMENT AND HARVEST REPORTS Country updates since 2023 related to conservation of polar bears and their habitats, including reviews of implementation of the Agreement	Session lead: Ruth Milkereit Rapporteurs: Ernie Cooper and Caroline Ladanowski	Open	⊕	⊕
	30 min	6.1	Canada	Caroline Ladanowski and Ernie Cooper
	30 min	6.2	Norway	Bjørn Rangbru
19:20			*MEETING DAY ADJOURNS*

{slider title="Agenda - Day 2, January 21, 2026:" class="yellow solid icon" open="false" mode="click"}

Agenda Day 2

Start time (UTC)	Duration	Item	Title	Session leads, Rapporteurs and Speakers	Observer participation	Annotations	Documents
15:00	90 min	6 cont.	COUNTRY MANAGEMENT AND HARVEST REPORTS	Session lead: Ruth Milkereit, Rapporteurs: Ernie Cooper and Caroline Ladanowski	Open	⊕	⊕
	30 min	6.3	Russia	Olga Krever
	30 min	6.4	United States	Dan Bjornlie and Maija Lukin
	30 min	6.5	Greenland	Panínguak’ Bendtsen and Naja Holm
16:30	20 min		*BREAK*
16:50	150 min (90+60)	7	COUNTRY RESEARCH REPORTS	Session lead: Magnus Andersen Rapporteur: Dag Vongraven	Open	⊕	⊕
	30 min	7.1	Canada	Evan Richardson
	30 min	7.2	Norway	Jon Aars
	30 min	7.3	Russia	Part 1: Nikita Platonov; Part 2: Stanislav Belikov
18:20	20 min		*BREAK*
18:40	30 min	7.4	United States	Todd Atwook and NN from ANCC
	30 min	7.5	Greenland	Kristin Laidre
19:40			*MEETING DAY ADJOURNS*

{slider title="Agenda - Day 3, January 22, 2026:" class="green solid icon" open="false" mode="click"}

Agenda Day 3

Start time (UTC)	Duration	Item	Title	Session leads, Rapporteurs and Speakers	Observer participation	Annotations	Documents
15:00	220 min (80+80+60)	8	CIRCCUMPOLAR ACTION PLAN 2015-2025	Session lead: Caroline Ladanowski Rapporteurs: Ernie Cooper and Ruth Milkereit	Open	⊕	⊕
	20 min	8.1	Introduction	Caroline Ladanowski
	20 min	8.2	OBJECTIVE 2 - Communicate to the public, policy makers, and legislators around the world the importance of mitigating GHG emissions to polar bear conservation	Paninguak' Bendtsen
	20 min	8.3	OBJECTIVE 3 - Ensure the preservation and protection of essential (commonly used) habitat for polar bears	Ruth Milkereit
	20 min	8.4	OBJECTIVE 4 - Ensure that harvest of polar bear subpopulations is managed in a biologically sustainable manner in accordance with sound conservation practices	Ruth Milkereit and Eric Regehr
16:20	20 min		*BREAK*
16:40	20 min	8.5	OBJECTIVE 5 - Manage human-bear interactions to ensure human safety and to minimize polar bear injury or mortality	Ernie Cooper
	20 min	8.6	OBJECTIVE 6 - Ensure that international legal trade of polar bears is carried out according to conservation principles and that poaching and illegal trade are curtailed	Ernie Cooper
	20 min	8.7	OBJECTIVE 7 - Carry out coordinated circumpolar population research and monitoring to monitor progress toward achieving the vision of the CAP	Lindsey Mangipane
	20 min	8.8	Indigenous and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) WG	Ruth Milkereit
18:00	20 min		*BREAK*
18:20	5 min	8.9	Polar Bears International CAP final review	Emily Ringer
18:25	55 min	8.10	Final review of the 10-year CAP	Mary Colligan
19:20	15 min		*BREAK*
19:35	30 min		POLAR BEAR CONSEVATION AWARD	Amalie A . Jessen	Open	⊕
20:05			*MEETING DAY ADJOURNS*

{slider title="Agenda - Day 4, January 23, 2026:" class="green icon" open="false" mode="click"}

Agenda Day 4

Start time (UTC)	Duration	Item	Title	Session leads, Rapporteurs and Speakers	Observer participation	Annotations	Documents
15:00	30 min	9	DISCUSSION ON COMMITMENTS TO A TENTATIVE CAP AND PROGRESS GOING FORWARD	Session lead: Amalie A. Jessen; Rapporteurs: Alice Garrett, Lindsey Mangipane, Dan Bjornlie	Closed	⊕
15:30	30 min	10	FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION ISSUES	Session lead: Amalie A. Jessen; Rapporteurs: Alice Garrett, Lindsey Mangipane, Dan Bjornlie	Closed	⊕
		10.1	Presentation of Finance Report
		10.2	Special Project Fund and other funding
		10.3	Modification of the PBA RoP if any changes are proposed
16:00	30 min	11	COOPERATION WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS	Session lead: Amalie A. Jessen; Rapporteurs: Alice Garrett, Lindsey Mangipane, Dan Bjornlie	Closed	⊕
		11.1	Cooperation at the PBA level
			IUCN/PBSG
			CAFF (including MoU with CAFF)
		11.2	Cooperation by each Range States	Country HoDs
			CITES
			Other
16:30	30 min		*BREAK*
17:00	15 min	12	REPORT ON DISCUSSION IN CLOSED SESSIONS	Amalie A. Jessen	Open	⊕
17:15	30 min	13	PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF TENTATIVE CAP AND PROGRESS GOING FORWARD	Amalie A. Jessen	Open	⊕
17:45	15 min	14	FINALIZE REPORT	Amalie A. Jessen	Open	⊕
18:00	15 min	15	ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES BEFORE CLOSURE OF MEETING (e.g., drafting an English Press Release)	Amalie A. Jessen	Open	⊕
18:15	10 min	16	NEXT MOP AND CHANGE IN CHAIRSHIP	Amalie A. Jessen	Open	⊕
18:25	10 MIN	17	CLOSURE OF MEETING	Amalie A. Jessen	Open	⊕
18:35			*MEETING DAY ADJOURNS*

{/sliders}

Polar Bear Agreement 50 years key milestones (1973-2023) - presentation prepared for the 50 years anniversary of the Agrement at the PBRS Meeting of the Partis in 2023: Video and PDF copy of the presentation.