A petition by the Ocean Conservancy has been launched to help protect the Central Arctic Ocean.
Those 1.1 million square miles/2.8 million square kilometers of water that surround the are around the North Pole have long been covered by ice. However, climate change has brought new challenges to these calm waters.
With the ice retreating, humans have moved in to exploit these once inaccessible waters. Fishermen and deep sea mining are only two of the highly exploitative and destructive practices that have started to take hold in these once pristine international waters. This new exploitation is now a clear and present danger to this once pristine Arctic seascape.
Currently, the Central Arctic Ocean is one of the quietest seas on the planet. This calmness and quiet have led to an area of outstanding abundance and richness of life. That is why the Ocean Conservancy has launched a petition to galvanize protections for this unique area of the ocean and the arctic people who inhabit it.
The petition calls for an immediate pause in activities such as transpolar shipping, deep sea mining and other activities until the opinions and voices of Arctic people are heard.
You can sign the petition to protect the Central Arctic Ocean here.
