Urgent need for action to save polar bears

Bears' habitats are literally melting away...October 2011: A dramatic reduction in polar-bear habitats in the next ten to 50 years has been predicted. The study by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) warns this is due largely to global warming.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species assesses polar bears as Vulnerable, with trends that suggest the population is decreasing. Polar bears rely almost entirely on the marine sea ice environment for their survival, so much so that large scale changes in their habitat will have a devastating impact on the population.

'They will disappear from many areas they are found today'‘Now is the time to act in order to save the waning polar bear population,' says Dag Vongraven, who heads up IUCN's polar bear specialist group, the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI). ‘If we fail to make a stand to save this species we risk having the population become severely decimated, and quite certainly they will have disappeared from many areas where they're found today.'

Climate change poses the most substantial threat to polar bear habitats. Recent trends for sea ice extent and thickness predict dramatic reductions over coming years- declines of roughly ten to 50 per cent of annual sea ice are predicted by 2100. A recent study by the NPI suggests that summer sea ice in the Polar Basin might be gone in a decade, not 50 to 100 years as most models have projected in the past. The long-term trends reveal substantial global reductions of the extent of ice coverage in the Arctic and the length of time ice when is present each year.

There must be strong commitments to cut greenhouse gases – now‘Climate change will be one of the major drivers of species extinctions in the 21st century,' says Simon Stuart, chairman of IUCN's Species Survival Commission. ‘In order to slow the pace the adverse effects of climate change are having on species around the world, we must work to reduce use of energy from fossil fuels and ensure that our leaders make and adhere to strong commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions now.'

Polar bears live throughout the ice-covered waters of Canada, Greenland, Norway, the Russian Federation and Alaska. Their range is limited by the southern extent of sea ice. Polar bears that have continuous access to sea ice can hunt throughout the year, but in areas where the sea ice melts completely each summer, the bears are forced to spend several months on land fasting on stored fat reserves until freeze-up.

Other population stress factors that also impact the species survival include toxic contaminants, shipping, recreational viewing and oil and gas exploration. The polar bear is unique among species protected under the Endangered Species Act because it is the first to be designated as threatened due to global warming.

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