The World Wildlife Fund is an organization that works towards conserving the world's biological diversity, ensures that the use of renewable, natural resources is sustainable and promotes the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. In fact, the World Wildlife Fund has already succeeded in many of their projects around the world, such as the 'Bowhead Whale Sanctuary' in Nunavut.
The World Wildlife Fund has many concerns about the Arctic, but one of their main ones is the fact that the Arctic holds about a quarter of the world's remaining petroleum reserves and that in a few years, oil companies will start drilling in the ecologically-sensitive Beaufort Sea. This is a concern, not only because there's a risk of an oil spill to occur, but as well as the fact that if an oil spill were to occur, the harsh conditions of the Beaufort Sea would make it difficult for emergency response crews to make any impact. As well, there no known solutions to cleaning up oil in ice-covered waters.
Thankfully, the World Wildlife Fund is partnering up with responsible industry leaders to show how this development can occur while benefiting local communities and respecting the integrity of the Arctic before the drilling occurs to ensure that if complications do arise, there will be solutions. The WWF is calling for a consistent set of regulations to protect the environment, as well as the surrounding communities and other marine companies. The regulations must address the gap if there were to be an oil spill. The WWF also testifies before many groups, to inform them about their view on this situation.
Overall, the World Wildlife Fund is working to preserve the Arctic before any oil is drilled, showing their concern and passion for the environment.
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