To help Arctic organisms cope, Norway and other nations are identifying areas where icy habitats could be protected, and constructing marine protected areas around them. And the World Wildlife Fund, a Washington, D.C.–based nongovernmental organization, is pressing for the preservation of what it calls the Last Ice Area, the few strips of northeast Canada and northern Greenland where ice may persist.
Such tasks are daunting, but Kovacs hopes the new study will help “wake up smart policymakers.”