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WDCS makes a call for urgent action for the marine mammals of the Arctic: CMS COP Rome December 1st

In the afternoon of the opening day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland, a call to mitigate climate change as a threat to wildlife came from another UN conference: the 9th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Migratory Species, which simultaneously started to meet in Rome, Italy.

WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, called on representatives of more than 100 governments gathered at the CMS COP9 for increased protection of the migratory marine species of the Arctic in response to the dramatic change of their ice-based habitat now being caused by climate change.

This follows on from the news of the recent deaths of some 500 narwhals trapped in the ice in northern Canada. The narwhals, the famous unicorns of the sea, are animals of the ice – overwintering underneath it and typically using long-established holes in the ice to breath. As climate change is leading to changes in the dynamics of this ice, so the animals are more prone to being trapped.

WDCS was joined in its call for urgent action by WWF and one country, Monaco, which called for a special working group to develop a resolution. This was agreed and we await the outcome.

“Urgent action is needed to address the swift changes how occurring in the Arctic” said Mark Simmonds, WDCS Director of science from Rome ‘And the Parties to this convention have an opportunity here to do this and arguably also a duty. The narwhal is on a list of species that CMS should be generating actions for and has been for many years. CMS should now aim to develop a comprehensive plan of action for it and the other species that are dependent on the ice.”

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