Environment

Arctic countries are working on the survival of polar bear

by sidonie | March 23, 2009 at 01:36 am

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The survival of polar bears through a strong commitment of States to the Arctic in the fight against global warming, said the Norwegian Minister of the Environment Tuesday, the first day of an international conference on the fate of the animal.

"The main threat today on polar bears comes from climate change," said Erik Solheim to the representatives of five countries (USA, Canada, Russia, Norway, Denmark / Greenland), where polar bears live meeting in Tromsø (northern Norway).

"In order to conserve the important ecosystem (of the bear, ie), we must put an end to global warming," he said.

The meeting is intended to Tromsoe dusting an Agreement for the conservation of polar bears, going back to 1973 and which focused on the restriction of hunting, and to examine in the light of the new climate threat.

Under the effect of warming, sea ice, hunting essential to polar bears who hunt seals, could melt completely in the Arctic in the summer around 2020, according to some estimates.

According to U.S. scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, two-thirds of 20 to 25,000 polar bears alive today may disappear by 2050. The rest should be concentrated in the Canadian North.

"In order to conserve the important ecosystem (of the bear, ie), we must put an end to global warming," he said.

Read more on the conference website

Sources :

Polar Bear Meeting in Norway

Protection of the Polar Bears