Funding cuts and geopolitical shifts threaten Arctic wildlife research programs

A modest research outpost on Mitivik Island, established in the 1990s to study declining eider duck populations, was quietly closed by Canada’s Environment and Climate Change department in 2024, leaving nesting pairs reduced from thousands to a few hundred. Federal wildlife monitoring now operates in only three of the 14 Arctic migratory bird sanctuaries, as the Canadian government announced a 10 % cut to its environmental workforce in 2025 and redirected billions toward a new Arctic highway and mineral development.

Funding that once hinged on oil-and-gas impact studies has dwindled as those projects faded, and priorities have shifted toward national security and rare-earth extraction. In the United States, climate-focused collaborations with Russia were suspended after the Ukraine invasion, and the Arctic Research Consortium lost NSF support, causing a 32 % drop in Greenland-related climate papers between 2021 and 2024. Greenland’s Institute of Natural Resources halted new U.S. cooperation after political threats, further limiting data collection. Experts warn that without field monitoring, understanding of species’ responses to warming, disease, and predation remains incomplete, jeopardizing conservation and Indigenous food security.