Territorial Premiers Announce Key Outcomes From Northern Premiers' Forum. As a result of their strong working relationship, Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski, Northwest Territories Premier Robert R. McLeod and Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna today announced the release of a pan-territorial approach to science. The Pan-Northern Approach to Science sets a path forward for northern science that commits to utilizing sound, reliable and evidence-based information to make decisions; developing northern science capacity; enhancing science communications and outreach; promoting strong science policies; and encouraging meaningful partnerships with First Nations, Inuit, Métis, the private sector and the science community. Yukon Government

 

US Drops Bid to Ban International Trade in Polar Bear Products. A lobby campaign that ex-Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq took to Washington, D.C. last year appears to have paid off. When the Committee on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, meets in Johannesburg, South Africa this September, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service will not pursue efforts to impose an international ban on trade in polar bear products, the wildlife agency said April 28. Nunatsiaq Online

Melting Arctic Enables New Tourist Routes. This summer, a 1,700-passenger cruise ship will navigate where no tourist has ever dared. Crystal Cruises' Serenity will connect Alaska to New York City, through the gelid waters of the legendary Northwest Passage. The voyage, already sold-out, comes courtesy of climate change. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado, Arctic sea ice was at a record low yet again in 2015. Ice extent usually increases through winter, peaks in March then shrinks to its minimum by September. Geographical

 

Inuit Led Pikialasorsuaq Commission Completes Hearings in Grise Fiord and Pond Inlet. The Pikialasorsuaq Commission completed the initial community hearings in Grise Fiord and Pond Inlet, Nunavut. The hearings spanned 5 days in the two communities with additional participation from community members from Clyde River, Arctic Bay and Resolute Bay. In addition to Commissioner Kuupik V. Kleist, the commission was accompanied by Bjarne Lyberth, Association of Fishers and Hunters (KNAPK) and Alfred Jakobsen (Oceans North Greenland) on the trip to the Canadian High Arctic to assist the Commission, share knowledge and observe the proceedings. Arctic Journal

 

Hungry Polar Bears Decimating Seabird Colonies. While the iconic images of polar bears in a warming world are arguably of starving bears shivering on ice floes, or of bears swimming great distances as those floes disappear, a different scene may be a more accurate portrayal of the animal's near future: hungry polar bears decimating colonies of nesting seabirds. "Picture instead," writes Daniel Grossman in a post for Yale Climate Connections, "a cream-colored bear loping on land, across tundra, and along the pebbled shores." Forced to venture ashore in search of sustenance, this hypothetical bear is fighting off hunger by snacking on bird eggs. Discovery News

 

UN to Consider Russia's Arctic Continental Shelf Claim This Summer. The United Nations' Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will consider Russia's claim at its upcoming session in July-August, says Russia's Minister of Resources and Ecology Sergey Donskoy. "The chairman of the commission has officially informed the Russian delegation about the decision to present the claim on its 41 st session, which takes place from July 11 to August 26," Donskoy said at a meeting in the ministry, RIA Novosti reports. Alaska Dispatch News