Bering Strait: Navigation and Conservation in Times of Conflict

The Arctic warming four times faster than the global average and increased accessibility of the previously frozen ocean is leading to a projected dramatic increase in activity, including shipping. The impacts of climate change, the vast distances involved with Arctic incident response times, the unpredictability of weather conditions, severe ecosystem upheaval, and significant infrastructure limitations combine to increase risks to the Arctic environment and its people.  

The Bering Strait region is a particularly unique area - one of the Arctic's most productive and sensitive environments but also a region increasingly facing pressure and challenges. Amidst an upheaval in relations between Russia and the other Arctic states exist transboundary risks associated with increased vessel activity, which continue to advance despite these deteriorated conditions.  

The Arctic Initiative, the Wilson Center's Polar Institute, and the World Wildlife Fund hosted a virtual workshop on transboundary risk management in the Bering Strait region.
 

Opening Remarks and Panel 1: "The Lay of the Land"

Panel 2: "Operator and Policy Reflections"

Panel 3: "Discussion, Recommendations, and Path Forward" and Closing Remarks

Background Materials

Andrey Todorov, "Shipping Governance in the Bering Strait Region: Protecting the Diomede Islands and Adjacent Waters," Marine Policy, Volume 146, 2022, 105289, ISSN 0308-597X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105289.

Abstract: Increasing shipping in the Bering Strait Region (BSR) has prompted the two coastal states, the United States and Russia, to implement measures aimed at reducing the risks to the region’s sensitive marine environment and local population dependent on subsistence economies. A significant step forward was made in 2018 when the two countries established joint ships’ routeing measures in the area through the International Maritime Organization (IMO). However, additional measures will be needed to create a comprehensive traffic management scheme in the BSR. This article focuses on analyzing potential courses of action that Russia and the United States could pursue, jointly or separately, to protect the BSR from the adverse effects of growing shipping. In particular, it studies and compares specific tools that could be applied to the Diomede Islands and adjacent marine areas, such as designation of Areas To Be Avoided (ATBAs) and Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs), speed restrictions, and implementation of a ship reporting system. In addition, considering the growing tensions between the United States and Russia, this article explores several potential scenarios in which the two countries implement different instruments independently of each other.

Inga Banshchikova, Crossing the Line: How the Increase in Shipping Traffic Threatens the Bering Strait, WWF, November 2022, https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/crossing-the-line-how-the-increase-in-shipping-traffic-threatens-the-bering-strait

Abstract: Today the Arctic is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Driven by climate change, this transformation promotes and accelerates industrial development in a fragile and vulnerable environment. As the Arctic sea ice is melting, northern shipping routes become navigable, providing easier access to the region’s vast hydrocarbon and mineral reserves. The expansion of the maritime activity over the Northern Sea Route, the flagship shipping lane of the north, heightens the risks to Arctic ecosystems, including pollution, increasing the likelihood of groundings, collisions, strikes of marine mammals or small watercraft, and spills of oil or other types of contaminants. These threats are especially relevant for the unique biologically productive ecosystems like the Bering Strait. The Bering Strait is the Northern Sea Route’s eastern gate, the narrow waterway separating the Russian Far East and Western Alaska. This paper presents a comprehensive look at the types and volumes of commodities that account for the expansion of maritime shipping activity along Russia’s northern coast and highlights the risk to already climate-imperiled ecosystems, species, and people. This report aims to increase public understanding of the trends in shipping traffic in the Arctic and to raise awareness of the risks that traffic poses. The paper suggests mitigation measures that might help reduce these threats and protect the precious ecosystem.