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This paper addresses Objective 4 of the CAP, which seeks to lay the groundwork for a polar bear-specific approach to harvest management. The intent is to provide consistent guidance while allowing co-management partners the flexibility to select harvest strategies that meet their specific situation and management objectives. The framework presented here reflects the life history of polar bears and considers the current and future effects of climate change. It is based largely on a western science approach to harvest management and may not represent Indigenous-centered ways of defining or achieving sustainability. The following three action items under Objective 4 of the CAP, intended to “ensure that harvest of polar bear subpopulations is managed in a biologically sustainable manner in accordance with sound conservation practices”, are addressed here:

1. define a “biologically sustainable harvest” in terms of conserving polar bear subpopulations for future generations,
2. define the components necessary for a “quantitative assessment of the population”,
   and
3. define the components of a “demonstrated sustainable harvest management regime”.