Wild polar bear conservation: A case of successful arctic science diplomacy?

Abstract

As poster child for the climate crisis and symbol of the circumpolar North, the polar bear has received considerable public and scholarly attention in recent years. A review of academic research on polar bear politics shows that many texts share a positive frame of polar bear conservation as a successful example of Arctic science diplomacy. Despite making such substantive claims, authors fail by and large to explain their reasoning or provide evidence of this success, aside from references to the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears. This article hence evaluates the claim that polar bear conservation constitutes a successful case of Arctic science diplomacy. To do so, the paper establishes a set of success criteria for Arctic science diplomacy. Based on an analysis of policy, governmental, and scientific documents and interviews on polar bear management and conservation, the paper identifies two periods of polar bear science diplomacy, evaluating each based on the success criteria developed in this paper. The first period (1960–90s) is defined by traditional threats to polar bears that are addressed through successful Arctic science diplomacy. Though the second period (1990s-present) also features elements of successful science diplomacy, Arctic scientists and diplomats are unable to effectively address the now dominant threat of climate change, shifting authority away from the Arctic and towards the international realm of climate change research and politics. As the climate crisis continues to outrank and amplify traditional threats to ecosystems around the globe, the article argues that this shift in epistemic and diplomatic authority may be indicative of a fate awaiting other specialized science diplomacy communities worldwide.