New Pole to Pole Campaign participants

The following zoos have signed up for the Pole to Pole Campaign today:

  • Wissel Zoo (The Netherlands)
  • African Safari (France)
  • Aqua Zoo Friesland (The Netherlands)
  • Givskud Zoo (Denmark)
  • Heidelberg Zoo (Germany)
  • Living Coasts (United Kingdom)
  • Zoo Parc Overloon (The Netherlands)
  • Krefeld Zoo (germany)
  • Newquay Zoo (United Kingdom)
  • Yorkshire Wildlife Park (United Kingdom)
  • Ranua Wildlife Park (Finland)

Thanks everyone and good luck with campaigning! If you would like to join the campaign, please go to the campaign website

More and more zoos joining the Pole to Pole Campaign

Today we welcome the following zoos and assocations that signed up for the Pole to Pole Campaign: Zoo Gdansk (Poland), Dierenrijk (The Netherlands), Isle of Wright Zoo (United Kingdom), Plock Zoo Gardens (Poland), European Union of Aquarium Curators (EUAC), Shepreth Wildlife Park (United Kingdom), Opel Zoo (Germany), ZooParc de Trégomeur (France), Moscow Zoo (Russia), Zoo Lodz (Poland) and Le Parc de Clères (France).

Would you also like to join the campaign and beat climate change? Click here

New report confirms disappearing Arctic sea ice affecting ecologic, economic and culturally important species

The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council, has released the Life Linked to Ice: a guide to sea-ice-associated biodiversity in this time of rapid change report, detailing changes in marine species and human communities as Arctic sea ice disappears.

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The report has found that sea ice loss is affecting the very building blocks of life in the Arctic Ocean with changes resonating throughout entire food webs, affecting everything from ice-dependant algae to birds, fish, marine mammals and human communities that rely on sea ice for travel and food or for economic opportunities. Changes are happening too quickly for some species to cope. Particularly vulnerable are species with limited distributions, specialized feeding or breeding requirements, and/or high reliance on sea ice for part of their life cycles. The report identifies the hooded seal, narwhal and polar bear— species that are vitally important to Indigenous communities— to be vulnerable to change.

The report offers four recommendations for actions:

1. Facilitate a move to more flexible, adaptable wildlife and habitat management and marine spatial planning approaches that respond effectively to rapid changes in Arctic biodiversity.
2. Identify measures for detecting early warnings of biodiversity change and triggering conservation actions.
3. Make more effective use of local and traditional knowledge in Arctic Council assessments and, more broadly, in ecological management.
4. Target resource managers when communicating research, monitoring and assessment findings.

It is important to note that the Arctic is a vast region, and changes will not be uniform across all areas and species. Individual species’ responses to these changes will be uncertain and varied. Sea ice loss should also be viewed in the context of cumulative effects as it is interacting with other stressors, including development impacts, ocean acidification, and accumulation of persistent organic pollutants and mercury in food webs.

Find out more about sea ice associated biodiversity or read the Life Linked to Ice report.

15 new Pole to Pole Campaign participants signed up today!

The Pole to Pole Campaign welcomes the following new participants: Parco Natura Viva (Italy), Chester Zoo (United Kingdom), Parc Zoologique (France), Zoo Kosice (Slovakia), Parc Animalier Dauvergne (France), Lille Zoo (France), Colchester Zoo (United Kingdom), Copenhagen zoo (Denmark), Neunkircher Zoo (Germany), Zoo de Lyon (France), Verband Deutschsprachiger Zoopädagogen (Germany), Marwell Wildlife (United Kingdom), Usti Zoo (Czech Republic), Apenheul Primate Park (The Netherlands) and Dublin Zoo (Ireland). joined the Pole to Pole Campaign today! Good luck with campaigning everyone. Would you also like to particpate in the campaign? Go to the website and register your pledge to unplug electronic devices the following months.

EAZA attending the Arctic Futures Symposium

EAZA will be present at the 2013 Arctic Futures Symposium taking place in Brussels on 16 and 17 October. EAZA’s attendance is a direct result of the new Pole to Pole Campaign, which was launched only a few weeks ago, and will help the organization fulfill its campaign objectives. The Arctic Futures Symposium was established in 2010 to raise public awareness of important developments in the Arctic region and has become an essential venue for promoting ongoing dialogue between Arctic stakeholders, and the empowerment of inhabitants of the Circumpolar North.

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Arctic Futures also provides members of the European Institutions and the wider international community in Brussels with the opportunity to engage with Arctic stakeholders on issues such as marine transport and infrastructure, search and rescue capabilities, concerns of Arctic indigenous communities, scientific research and monitoring, ecosystem stewardship, and the sustainable development of the Arctic’s natural resources and economic potential.

Held over two days the comprehensive agenda of this year’s Arctic Futures Symposium will focus on responsible Arctic resource development, safe Arctic shipping, sustainable circumpolar communities, and research to inform policymaking. These themes reflect Canada’s ‘Development for the People of the North’ priorities during its chairmanship of the Arctic Council from 2013 to 2015.The first day the symposium will welcome decision-makers from Arctic nations and the EU to discuss current and future issues facing the Arctic.

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In the afternoon, natural and social science experts along with representatives from indigenous Arctic communities will discuss natural and social science research that aims to help decision-makers be well-informed in their policymaking. On the second day the symposium will look at sustainable development of the Arctic’s natural resources, with a keynote speech by Jens Johan Hjort, Mayor of Tromsø, Norway. The remainder of the day will look at future shipping scenarios in the Arctic. The shipping scenarios workshop will be organised in conjunction with the Arctic NGO Forum, an initiative funded by the European Commission Directorate General for the Environment.

EAZA and AZA zoos and aquariums unite to launch climate change campaign

In the wake of the widely reported release of the new United Nations IPCC report on climate change, the leading zoos and aquariums in Europe and North America have united to launch a campaign to influence the energy consumption of their nearly 300 million visitors. The campaign, called Pole to Pole, was unveiled to the 700 delegates of the annual conference of EAZA, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, and highlights the effectiveness of collective action in reducing energy use and protecting biodiversity in the Polar Regions and beyond. An initiative of EAZA and its North American counterpart AZA, the campaign underlines the role of zoos and aquaria in holistic conservation that reinforces efforts on the ground with captive breeding programmes.

Arctic Action Teams' Robert Buchanan appeals to delegates to be "heroes for future generations"

Arctic Action Teams’ Robert Buchanan appeals to delegates to be “heroes for future generations”

Robert Buchanan, founder of Arctic Action Teams, a leading activism group and a key partner in the campaign, underlined the findings of the IPCC report and demonstrated the potential effects of collective action. “We can be the heroes of future generations,” he said in an impassioned speech to the delegates. “We have inherited an amazing world and it’s up to us to keep it pristine for the generations to come. Our actions now will determine the future of the planet, and everything that lives in it.”

“The poles are an indicator of the health of the planet,” explains Dr. Ian Stirling, one of the world’s leading experts on polar wildlife. “When we see the huge reductions in the ice covering the poles, and the effect that that has on species that live there, we can get an insight into the danger facing the whole world.”

From left to right: Dr. Ian Stirling (University of Alberta), José Kok (Campaign Chair), Debborah Luke (AZA Vice President) and Robert Buchanan (Arctic Action Teams)

From left to right: Dr. Ian Stirling (University of Alberta), José Kok (Campaign Chair), Debborah Luke (AZA Vice President) and Robert Buchanan (Arctic Action Teams)

The campaign calls on zoo and aquarium visitors and the wider public to take small individual steps that can make a huge collective difference to endangered species and ecosystems both at the poles and everywhere in between. Pole to Pole research estimates that if all of the 140 million visitors to EAZA zoos with a mobile phone were to disconnect their phone charger after charging, this would save up to 29 million KW of energy equalling 422.149 oil barrels or 119.032 football fields of forest.

The campaign will run for 2 years and will encompass efforts on social media and on site at EAZA and AZA institutions to raise awareness of the issues and how small actions by everyone can help to save species including the polar bear and the king penguin. You can find out more, and take the pledge to reduce your energy use in specific ways by visiting the official campaign website www.poletopolecampaign.org. Now that there is no real doubt about climate change caused by humans, the sooner we can get started on reducing emissions, the better.