NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
A new study on Inuvialuit traditional knowledge regarding polar bears in the western Arctic runs counter to the narrative that climate change is decimating the species.

A new study on traditional knowledge disputes previous claims that polar bear populations are rapidly declining. Interviewing local Inuvialuit found that polar bears are adapting to changing sea ice conditions. - NNSL file photo

"There's this rush to judgement that the fate of polar bears is sealed and their extinction is a foregone conclusion," said Lindsay Staples, chair of the Wildlife Management Advisory Council for the North Slope, the group who performed the study.

"That really is alarming to many of us who are involved in the management and research of polar bears."

The study found that climate change since the 1980s has created new sea ice and weather conditions in the western Arctic but polar bear populations in the area appear to have remained healthy and stable. This indicates polar bears are adapting, not disappearing.

Seventy-two Inuvialuit were interviewed across the region in 2010 for the study. The purpose was to fill the knowledge gap in polar bear populations with anecdotal experience from people in the region.

Staples said there is "concern and frustration" in polar bear management bodies, as well as with hunters themselves, that some in the research community are making long-term projections about the fate of polar bears "when the body of evidence to support those predictions is open to a series of questions and there's an awful lot that we still don't understand about the complexity of climate-induced changes and how they affect polar bears."

He said Inuvialuit traditional knowledge holders are cautious about speculating about the long-term fate of polar bears.

"There's a high degree of frustration with the very liberal predictions that others have made in suggesting that the fate of polar bears is sealed and that fate is one of disappearance," said Staples.

He referenced a 2014 study from the US Geological Survey that claimed a 40 per cent decline in polar bear population in the southern Beaufort Sea area from 2001 to 2010.

That study was picked up by media internationally, and Staples thinks there has been a rush to judgement on polar bears based on little evidence.

"The frustration is that there tends to be a very narrow body of evidence that's referred to at times when it comes to our assessment and management of these populations," he said.

Filling in gaps in previous research is why the traditional knowledge study is important to the researchers. A central element under modern land claims is that those with traditional knowledge should weigh in wildlife management.

"To date there has been some frustration that there hasn't been near enough acknowledgment, respect and use of the traditional knowledge of Inuit across the North," said Staples.

No one is suggesting there isn't a place for science-based research, he added.

"I'm not concerned that (the two studies) don't agree. I'm more concerned that we're not getting the full picture."

The job of co-management boards is to discuss these sort of differences and take into account as much information as possible, he said.

In a news release, Larry Carpenter, chair of the council's Northwest Territories zone, said he agreed the study indicates disappearing sea ice doesn't necessarily mean disappearing polar bears.

"When we make decisions about polar bears, we need to be careful," he stated. "We also have to make sure we do our research and not oversimplify just because it is convenient to do so."