Polar Bears: population declines up five-fold in just five years
18 Dec 2006
The number of polar bear populations in decline has increased from one in 2001 to five in 2006, WWF has warned.
There are only 19 polar bear populations in the world, so this decline represents more than a quarter of the entire species. The new findings have prompted WWF to issue an urgent call to action to the governments of the world to cut carbon pollution, the cause of dramatic warming in the Arctic.
"The polar bear's powerful grip on the Arctic is slipping" said Stefan Norris, head of conservation with the WWF International Arctic Program.
"We need to stop run-away warming. WWF calls on the governments of the world to act now and reduce their carbon pollution. Climate change is melting the ice-bear's toe-hold on life. This bad news for polar bears is also bad news for other arctic species, and for the indigenous peoples whose traditional ways of life depend on them."
Polar bears depend on sea ice to live, hunt and breed. The Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of the rest of the world. Sea ice over the Arctic is projected to disappear in summer before the end of this century. Declining populations of polar bears indicate that the whole of the Arctic is under immense stress as a result of climate change.
The figures come from a newly-published report by the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Polar Bear Specialist Group.
The two best studied polar bear sub-populations in the world, the western Hudson Bay population in Canada, and the southern Beaufort Sea population (USA/Canada), have declined by 22% and 17% respectively over the past two decades.
The other three populations in decline are those in Baffin Bay and Kane Basin - shared between Greenland and Canada - and Norwegian Bay in Canada.
Professor Andrew Derocher, chair of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group, said: "The effects of climate change are becoming clearer. Climate change is the main threat to polar bears and is clearly implicated in the western Hudson Bay sub-population. It is likely also a key factor in the Southern Beaufort Sea."
"Climate stabilisation is the key conservation action now for polar bears," Professor Derocher said.
The increase in the conservation concern for the species resulted in their listing as 'vulnerable' by the IUCN Red List, meaning that a global population decline of 30% or more was expected within three generations or 50 years.
Professor Derocher said findings of drowning polar bears, cannibalism, increased numbers of 'problem' bears - which are bears looking for food near arctic communities or Inuit food caches and which present a threat to humans - changing behaviour, changing diet and shifting distributions were reported from many areas in the range of the bears. These observations are consistent with predicted changes caused by climate warming.
In another recently published technical note, the provincial government of Ontario, Canada, said the body condition in all age classes of polar bears declined from the mid-80s to the period 2000-03. In the Southern Beaufort Sea and Western Hudson Bay sub-populations, researchers detected declines in body conditions before population levels started to drop.
WWF funds science and conservation work on polar bears in parts of Russia, Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia.
For more information
Alison Sutton, Senior Press Officer, WWF-UK
Phone: (44) 01483 412388
Mobile: (44) 07747 455256
Email: asutton@wwf.org.uk
Notes:
- The report (PDF) is available at the Polar Bear Specialist Group's website.
- The western Hudson Bay sub-population dropped by 22% in the period 1987-2004. The southern Beaufort Sea sub-population (USA-Canada) declined by 17% respectively in the period 1987-2006.
