November 2013: Near Churchill, on the edge of Canada’s Hudson Bay, large numbers of polar bears are gathering right now, waiting for the ice to form. You can see mother bears snuggling with cubs, young males wrestling with each other, and large solitary bears ambling across the tundra. This polar bear spectacle is part of their annual migration back out onto the sea ice, where they can finally hunt seals again after summer’s long fast.
However, thanks to global warming, this wait for the ice to form is getting longer and longer and the hungry bears now suffer from malnutrition and starvation—especially females with cubs. Today the loss of sea ice habitat from climate change has become the greatest threat to polar bears. Shrinking sea ice also opens up polar bear habitat to oil and gas development and increased shipping. And ice changes are also forcing bears ashore and into greater conflict with people.
Next month another group will be gathering in Russia, The International Forum on the Conservation of Polar Bears. Forty years ago the range countries signed an agreement on polar bear conservation. Thanks to their forward-thinking commitments, several bear populations have stabilized and largely recovered from the historic threat of over-harvest.
The forum will bring together representatives from polar bear range countries, along with scientists, members of indigenous communities, WWF and other conservation leaders, who will discuss what can be done to address thes issues of climate change, sea ice loss and global warming to help polar bears thrive.
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