3.1   Election of Chair

Amalie A. Jessen, Greenland Head of Delegation and PBRS Chair,  is prepared to chair the meeting. Greenland will ask for concurrence from the Parties.

3.2   Election of Rapporteurs

The Chair will propose a drafting group consisting of representatives from each Party. The role of the drafting group will be to draft the meeting report/outcome document and press realease of the meeting, with support from session leads and rapporteurs.  A draft report covering the discussion of the first three meeting days will be completed pon day 3, to be presented and approved by the Parties on day 4. A total draft report and press release will be finalised on day 4.

3.3    Adoption of the agenda

The Chair will briefly review the draft agenda and invite any suggestions for modifications, noting that there may be modifications over the course of the meeting.

3.4 General rules of procedure for the meeting

The Chair will briefly review the purpose of the meeting as primarily for the exchange of information and collaboration among the Parties represented, the rules of participation in Open and Closed sessions,  the opportunity for questions after presentations and observers' statements.

3.5 Admission of observers

The Chair will briefly review the approved list of observers.

4.1.    IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group updates - (45 minutes)

Speaker: Nick Lunn, retired research scientist at Research Division, Science & Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada and  Co-chair of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) 

5.1.    Working Together: Advancing Indigenous Knowledge in Polar Bear Conservation, a presentation by the Polar Bear Technical Committee Indigenous Knowledge Working Group - (45 minutes)

Speakers:  Jason Dicker,  Wildlife Manager, Nunatsiavut Government, co-chair Canadian Polar Bear Technical Committee,
Alison Thompson, Program Manager, Wildlife Management Advisory Council (North Slope) and Jennifer Smith, Chairperson Wildlife Management Advisory Council (North Slope)

The Polar Bear Technical Committee (PBTC) provides technical advice and recommendations on the status of Canada’s polar bear subpopulations. The PBTC’s Indigenous Knowledge (IK) Working Group was formed in 2019 to make recommendations to the PBTC on improving how the PBTC includes, recognizes, and values both IK and knowledge holders. In this presentation, representatives from the PBTC IK Working Group will share reflections from the Working Group’s first six years, including: reviewing how PBTC has recognized, valued, and included IK and knowledge holders since its inception; researching how other species assessment bodies do this work and considering how these policies may be applied within the PBTC; and developing and implementing recommendations. The PBTC IK working group’s activities to date serve as a starting point for discussions on better recognizing and valuing IK, while building on the PBTC’s prior successes. This presentation is authored by the PBTC Indigenous Knowledge Working Group and as such the ideas and recommendations presented do not necessarily reflect the opinion of all PBTC members.

Speaker:  Caroline Ladanowski, Director, Wildlife Management and Regulatory Affairs, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 

Speaker: Ruth Milkereit, Head, Polar Bear Management Unit, Wildlife Management and Regulatory Affairs Division, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada 

This presentation reviews CAP Objective 3, which focused on ensuring the conservation of essential habitat for polar bears.

The Circumpolar Action Plan (CAP) identifies climate change and the associated reductions in the extent and composition of sea ice to be the greatest threat to polar bear persistence. Polar bears rely on sea ice habitat as a platform to hunt seals and denning habitat to reproduce. It is likely that climate change will result in a reduction to the quantity, quality, and availability of sea ice and the identification and protection of maternity denning habitats is crucial. A reduction in the quantity and quality of essential (or commonly used) winter, summer, and denning habitat because of climate change is a threat to polar bears.

The presentation reviews how the work completed under CAP Objective resulted in maps identifying essential (or commonly used) winter, summer, and denning polar bear habitat as a first step towards determining and understanding which areas are currently protected, not currently protected and what level(s) or mechanism(s) of protection (e.g. regional, national, international, Indigenous, other) are in place in the areas that are protected.

The presentation highlights the need for continued progress in furthering our understanding the levels of protection associated with global polar bear essential or commonly used habitat.

Speakers: Ruth Milkereit, Head, Polar Bear Management Unit, Wildlife Management and Regulatory Affairs Division, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada and  Eric Regehr, Principal Quantitative Ecologist at the University of Washington, Member of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG)

This presentation reviews CAP Objective 4, which focused on ensuring harvest of polar bear subpopulations is managed in a biologically sustainable manner in accordance with sound conservation practices.

The presentation highlights how the PBRS successfully advanced five of six interrelated action items: HM-A1, A2 and A3 which were initially combined into a 2022 white paper defining a quantitative assessment of the population (A1), biologically sustainable harvest in terms of conserving polar bear subpopulations for future generations (A2) and demonstrated sustainable harvest management regime (A3) and published as a peer reviewed journal article “International consensus principles for the sustainable harvest of polar bears” in Conservation Biology in March 2025. Importantly, the principles outlined in the paper are not prescriptive, and there is no formal mechanism of enforcement. Furthermore, the principles are based primarily on a Western science approach to wildlife management and do not necessarily reflect all Indigenous-centered ways of defining or achieving sustainability. The HMA4 Harvest Regime Table summarizes a description of the harvest regime for each subpopulation addressing whether a quantitative assessment of the population exists (with uncertainty), available date on harvest and associated uncertainty, whether harvest has been determined to be biologically sustainable on quantitative assessment, including associated uncertainty and whether quotas and harvest are within biologically sustainable limits. Finally, HMA6 collated available data from harvested bears and how to analyze that data in a white paper entitled “Uses of harvest information to estimate demographic parameters for polar bears (Ursus maritimus).”

The presentation concludes by reiterating the recommendation that the Range States revisit and reevaluate their current subpopulation harvest regime descriptions against the agreed-to international consensus principles for the sustainable harvest of polar bears and share that evaluation with the Range States. This would inform a discussion among the Range States at the Meeting of the Parties. The authors of the white paper on the international consensus principles have noted that they are based primarily on a western science approach to harvest management and may not represent Indigenous-centered ways of defining or achieving sustainability. The Range States should factor in Indigenous and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) into their harvest regimes as appropriate.

Speaker:  Ernie Cooper, Senior Advisor, Wildlife Management and Regulatory Affairs Division, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada

This presentation addresses CAP Objective 5, which focused on managing human–bear interactions. Progress on the objective was measured against twelve actions and 25 deliverables. Seven actions were completed, four partially completed, and one was not initiated. Achievements included standardized attack response protocols, established baselines for bear and human injuries and deaths, the creation of conflict mitigation templates, and the sharing of deterrent training protocols across Range States. Collaborative research and testing advanced the use of new deterrent tools such as drones, electric fences, and olfactory repellents, while best practices were developed to reduce tourism-related impacts.

Despite this progress, gaps remain. Some actions were not initiated, and the Objective 5 working group was inactive for 2023–2025 aside from publishing conflict data. Monitoring from 2020–2025 indicates that an average of 70 polar bears were killed annually in defense of life or property, while human injuries averaged two per year and fatalities averaged fewer than one.

The presentation concludes by noting that the Range States have made tangible advances in conflict prevention and response, equipping communities with better tools, protocols, and baselines.

Speaker:  Ernie Cooper, Senior Advisor, Wildlife Management and Regulatory Affairs Division, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada

This presentation reviews CAP Objective 6, which focused on ensuring that international trade in polar bears is consistent with conservation principles. Canada remains the principal source of polar bear products in global trade, particularly hides. All Canadian exports are strictly regulated to comply with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)—implemented by the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act and Wild Animal and Wild Animal and Plant Trade Regulations.

A central achievement under Objective 6 was the completion of the 2012–2021 polar bear trade review, which provided a comprehensive assessment of the topic.

The presentation reviews how polar bear trade has evolved since 2021. The international trade in hides is now at a 20-year low, making it effectively marginal compared to previous decades. Exports to China dropped sharply after 2013 but have since stabilized at around 36 hides per year, while exports to other Range States have effectively ceased since 2021.

The presentation concludes by noting that the market for polar bear hides can change dramatically in relatively short periods. This underscores both the volatility of market demand and the importance of sustained monitoring to detect sudden changes in trade dynamics.

8.7   OBJECTIVE 7 - Carry out coordinated circumpolar population research and monitoring to monitor progress toward achieving the vision of the CAP - (20 minutes)

8.8   Indigenous and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) WG - (20 minutes)

Speaker: Ruth Milkereit, Head, Polar Bear Management Unit, Wildlife Management and Regulatory Affairs Division, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada and  Whitney Kellie-Szender (Pituk), Executive Director, Alaska Nannut Co-Management Council

This presentation reviews the progress made by the PBRS to support the “Inclusion of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) in the Polar Bear Range States as part of the ITEK working group.”

The ITEK WG advanced three actions during the CAP2023-2025 implementation period: ITEK-1 “maintain a compendium and schedule of ITEK studies”, ITEK-2 “Complete a review and analysis to identify potential approaches to enhance implementation of PBRS commitments to inclusion of ITEK and participation of Indigenous peoples and provide recommendations to the HoDs” and ITEK-3 “Prepare an ITEK knowledge synthesis on recent ITEK research.”

The presentation highlights that the completion of all three ITEK initiatives (1, 2 and 3) has advanced the PBRS goal of recognizing “the importance and value of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in informing management decisions and the need for the range states to develop a common understanding of what constitutes Traditional Ecological Knowledge and how it should be used in polar bear management decisions.”  It outlines the WG’s findings that WG’s concrete recommendations and approaches to enhance implementation of PBRS commitments to inclusion of ITEK and participation of Indigenous Peoples under the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears should be considered by the PBRS while examining any approach to extending Range States collaborative efforts beyond the 2015-2025 Circumpolar Action Plan (e.g. future Range States work).

8.9   Polar Bears International CAP final review

Speaker: Emily Ringer, Polar Bears International

8.10   Final review of the 10-year CAP

Speaker: Mary Colligan, Wildlife Biologist,  NEW Solutions, Experienced Services Program 

This presentation will provide a summary of the review conducted of the PBRS 2015-2025 Circumpolar Action Plan (CAP). The details can be found in the draft report which is posted with the meeting materials. While the report provides details on progress related to each of the CAP Objectives, they will not be included in this presentation given they are the subject of other meeting presentations (see agenda items 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6 and 8.7 and 8.8 for ITEK).

The presentation will provide background on the CAP development and review the methodology used to conduct the review of the 10 years of implementation of the CAP. Activities and products associated with CAP implementation will be highlighted and reflections on CAP implementation will be presented. Recommendations for future PBRS collaborative actions and information exchange activities will be offered for each CAP Objective as well as for methods of operation in the future.