Jean-Louis Etienne
IUCN Ambassador for the Poles and the Ocean
IUCN is proud to announce that Jean-Louis Etienne is now its Ambassador for the Poles and the Ocean.
The ice mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the multiple impacts of climate change on marine biodiversity, the opening up of maritime routes, and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, are some of the challenges Jean-Louis Etienne will raise awareness on, by collecting data and calling for action to protect these highly sensitive environments and steer the international conservation agenda towards a more sustainable future.
Jean Louis Etienne's life
Jean-Louis Etienne is a French doctor and explorer, known for his many expeditions around the world, from the Himalayas, Greenland and Patagonia to racing around the world with Eric Tabarly aboard the Pen Duick VI vessel.
He became the first man to reach the North Pole solo overland, pulling his own sledge for 63 days in 1986, and by the turn of that decade he co-led the international Transantarctica expedition alongside the American Will Steger, the longest overland crossing of Antarctica ever accomplished using dog sleds: 6,300 km.
Jean-Louis Etienne is also a committed environmentalist, and between 1990 and 1996 he led a number of education-oriented scientific expeditions to raise public awareness on the Polar regions, their biodiversity and important role in the Earth's climate system.
His next expedition will be a two-year mission around Antarctica. The POLAR POD, a very unique international oceanographic station, will drift around the continent with the goal of studying the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). The ACC plays a crucial role in regulating the Earth's climate: it distributes heat, fresh water and carbon-dioxide among the major oceans. Its role in the climate system, the marine biodiversity it hosts and the impact climate change has on it, remain poorly understood. See below for further details on the Polar Pod expedition and the unique vessel that will enable it.
More information about Jean-Louis Etienne and his other expeditions are available on his website.
Arctic Expeditions
Jean-Louis Etienne has explored the Arctic region through many expeditions (keep scrolling…)
GENERALI ARCTIC OBSERVER - Arctic Ocean, April 2010
TOTAL POLE AIRSHIP - Camp Barneo Russian Station, April 2007
MISSION BANQUISE - North Pole, April > July 2002
SPITZBERG -North Pole, November 1995 > June 1996
CROSSING GREENLAND - Greenland, April > May 1988
NORTH POLE - North Pole, March > April 1986
Antarctic Expeditions
The opposite pole was also meticulously explored by Jean-Louis Etienne, during some memorable expeditions (keep scrolling…)
EREBUS - Antarctic, December 1993 > March 1994
SOUTH GEORGIA - Southern Ocean, August 1991 > February 1992
PATAGONIA - Patagonia, 1982 & 1991
TRANSANTARCTICA - Antarctic, July 1989 > March 1990
Polar Pod
" My next expedition will be an exploration on the Southern Ocean aboard the Polar Pod, a manned oceanographic platform designed to drift around Antarctica in the furious fifties."
- Jean-Louis Etienne -
Polar Pod
Despite its role in regulating the Earth's climate and the large marine biodiversity it hosts, the Southern Ocean remains poorly studied due to the challenges in conducting oceanographic expeditions there. To fill this data and knowledge gap, the international scientific community is calling for in-situ measurements for the Southern Ocean.
The POLAR POD was designed to explore this stormy ocean, which encompass what sailors call the « furious fifties ».
Drifting with the circumpolar current around Antarctica, like a satellite around the Earth, the POLAR POD will allow the in-situ and year-round acquisition of data that will be transmitted to researchers, oceanographers, climatologists and biologists. Furthermore, the calibration of remote instruments will allow long-term observations and monitoring of this key area. 43 scientific institutions from 12 countries are involved in the project. The scientific programme is divided into four major research streams:
1. Atmosphere-sea exchange
2. Ground truth for Earth observation satellites
3. Census of marine life: from microplankton to giant whales
4. Anthropogenic impact
Jean-Louis Etienne interview's at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, IUCN World Conservation Congress, Marseille, September 2021.
Jean-Louis Etienne interview's at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, IUCN World Conservation Congress, Marseille, September 2021.
Finally, and in collaboration with IUCN, this expedition will run in real time an international educational project entitled the Life Sciences of the Earth and the Environment. Young people need dreams, role models and incentives to believe in their ambitions, and it is hoped that this expedition will be a springboard to launching such aspirations.
More information about the Polar Pod are also available on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Linked In.
IUCN Polar Activities
Polar ecosystems are highly sensitive to climate change and require urgent attention, particularly in the face of expanding human activities including shipping, tourism, fishing, oil and gas development.
IUCN is encouraging and assisting countries, institutions and the private sector to conserve the integrity and diversity of the Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems.
Jean-Louis Etienne's work hand-in-hand with IUCN will use science to call for action to protect these sensitive environments and help steer the international conservation agenda towards a more sustainable future.
Arctic
IUCN's report on Natural Marine World Heritage in the Arctic Ocean identifies seven globally significant marine sites in the Arctic Ocean that warrant protection and could potentially qualify for World Heritage status.
IUCN has promoted special protection measures for the Bering Strait, a globally-important biodiversity hotspot, and is also looking at the problem of microplastics in the Arctic.
Antarctic
IUCN continuously uses its observer status at meetings of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to advocate for protection status for areas of high biodiversity value. For instance, IUCN contributed to a submission of an Information Paper presented by the French delegation on Important Marine Mammals Areas (IMMAs) at the Fortieth Meeting of the Scientific Committee of CCAMLR (Virtual meeting, 11 to 15 October 2021), putting forward 13 IMMAs identified in the Southern Ocean by a group of international experts at the IUCN IMMA Workshop in October 2018.
Future Perspectives
Jean-Louis Etienne will support IUCN Ocean Team's work on the conservation of the polar regions and the ocean, by using his influence, network and findings from the Polar Pod's scientific programme. It will help accelerate the implementation of the Nature 2030 IUCN Programme and its targets, with a particular focus on the ocean target related to the maintenance of ocean and coastal processes as a key foundation for planetary stability.
This collaboration will help bring a certain influence to international discussions through various fora such as the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM), the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) or the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Transantarctica expedition - 1989
Transantarctica expedition - 1989
Polar Pod video presentation
Polar Pod video presentation
French President Emmanuel Macron pays tribute to Jean-Louis Etienne at the opening ceremony of the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Marseille, September 2021.
French President Emmanuel Macron pays tribute to Jean-Louis Etienne at the opening ceremony of the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Marseille, September 2021.
Jean-Louis Etienne interview's at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, IUCN World Conservation Congress, Marseille, September 2021.
Jean-Louis Etienne interview's at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, IUCN World Conservation Congress, Marseille, September 2021.
Polar Pod and supply ship
Polar Pod and supply ship
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