Protecting Alaska’s Bristol Bay Report: Oil Spill Prevention and
Response in the U.S. Arctic Ocean The spectacular Arctic
encompasses more than 17 percent of the globe, harboring some of
our planet’s least disturbed large marine ecosystems. Four
million residents, including 30 different indigenous groups,
call this region home. Life in the Arctic has been shaped for
thousands of years by the ability to adapt to this land of
perpetual ice and snow. The Arctic is warming at twice the rate
of the rest of the planet, fundamentally altering both human
communities and natural systems. Retreating sea ice is not only
restructuring Arctic ecosystems, it is also permitting new
industrial access for commercial fishing, offshore energy and
commercial shipping on a scale never seen before. To protect
life in the Arctic, we must build conservation solutions that
address the rapidly changing Arctic environment. At the same
time, we must work to lower carbon emissions that are the major
cause of global warming. Pew’s Oceans