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Arctic warming sees more polar bear populations threatened

Posted on 07 July 2009

An inquisitive polar bear peers through the window of the Tundra Buggy, a vehicle being used by polar bear experts from WWF and Polar Bears International to observe the animals in the wild.

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WWF's work with polar bears

The world’s top experts have just confirmed that Arctic warming is continuing its ravages of polar bear populations. The Polar Bear Specialist Group of the International Union of the Conservation of Nature has added to its list of declining polar bear populations.

“There is a disturbing downward trend apparent in world polar bear populations,” says Geoff York, polar bear coordinator for WWF International’s Arctic Programme. “In 2005, there were five declining populations – now there are eight. The experts have clearly identified climate change as the major culprit, but they are also optimistic that these trends can be reversed, given timely and effective action on greenhouse gas emissions.”

The main effect of warming on the bears is that their hunting is restricted by a lack of sea ice. The bears use the ice as a platform from which they can hunt seals, their favourite prey. Research has shown a definite link between the time the bears have to stay on land, and a decline in health, and in the numbers of cubs that survive.

At a meeting in Norway earlier this year, representatives of the countries that are home to polar bears agreed to refer the climate change problem to the UN-sponsored climate negotiations. WWF continues to push those countries to live up to the treaty they signed in 1973, obliging them to protect polar bear habitat.

Comments

Natasha

October 26, 2009 - 08:32

Hi!!! Want to help but don`t know how!!!(((

santu

October 18, 2009 - 04:07

我希望有更多的中国公民关注环保，因为在现阶段的中国，人们都没了信仰，他们的心中只有钱！因为心中只有钱，他们就是最贫穷的人

Daren

October 15, 2009 - 20:22

Wow you people are dumb at best..
First, the polar bear population is stable at 25,000+ and has been for 20 years or so.
Second, Co2 has never been proven to be a green house gas at all
Thrid, even if Co2 was a green house gas humans would be responsible for a fraction of a percent of it and it (Co2) only makes up a very very small percentage of gases in the atmosphere. Therefore, we're probably not contributing to anything

Methane gas traps 30% more heat than any other gas in the atmosphere. The cattle industry is the #1 methane producer in the WORLD, yet most people drive their hybrid cars to a steakhouse...
The Nickle Metal Hydride in a Hybrid battery is produced by some of the most toxic crap on the planet. It is mined, then shipped to Asia where it is refined, and then shipped to Canada where it is put into a battery and then shipped to mexico or the US where it is put into a car. This crap travels around the globe twice, so it's wasting more fuel than if you just used gas, and it creates a toxic mess everywhere it's refined and it cannot be disposed of without causing damage to our ecosystem. Way to go greeners, you're making a dirtier tomorrow..
To top it all off the global temps are still in a decline. Every weather model shows a cooling trend that has been going on for the past 100 years or so, but never mind the facts. Let's save the Polar Bears that aren't at risk of any real danger other than overpopulation.
By "saving" the polar bear you're probably killing the polar bear. There are going to be too many of them eventually and some will have to die off for others to survive. Get over yourselves and start realizing how little you actually mean to this small planet.

joyce

October 15, 2009 - 01:57

I hope we can save the polar bear I am going to see If I can help.

felipe

October 13, 2009 - 18:55

of course polar bears have survived before to climate warming before... the problem is that this warming caused by human action is going faster than natural phenomenon. As we already know, the process of adaptation in species is not as fast as the changes are occuring. That is the big problem.

Daniel

October 7, 2009 - 17:13

why does no one listen about climate change they dont know what they could be destroying

Phebus Lee

October 5, 2009 - 13:08

Three days ago, San Diego Zoo of California took a very cute picture of Polar Bear with pumpkin in its mouth. That is why Irish say yes to EU on 10/2.
Halloween need not to be scary!

zippy

October 2, 2009 - 21:10

i think that we should care about the polar bears they are super cute and the ice is melting so they have nothing to live on the polar bears need our help and byre that i do not mean help putting them in a zoo or a controlled environment they are wild animals and if we don't do any thing about it the polar bears could be doomed so maybe you should for get about how they did in the past and think about what is haping to them NOW . they are drowning because the ice is melting .so stick that in your pipe and smoke it .

Dave M

September 27, 2009 - 07:54

Can we please stop with the 'polar bears are doomed' talk? The polar bear population has been STABLE at about 25-27,000 for the past 20 years. Yes, there has been some ice loss lately, but polar bears have survived periods of much greater warming in the past. Local Inuit have also reported that they notice bear populations are thriving. Let us also not forget that minimum summer levels of sea ice have been increasing substantially in 2008 and even more in 2009 compared to a low in 2007. Besides, even with less ice, many polar bears hunt successfully for food in summer while being on land--off the ice. The hysteria about polar bears should stop.

Jacob J.

September 1, 2009 - 13:28

hopefully those poor polar bears will survive