Climate Change Threatens Polar Bears

"Climate change has a negative impact on polar bears and their habitat and is the most important long term threat facing polar bears. Action to mitigate this threat is beyond the scope of the Polar Bear Agreement. Climate change affects every nation on the earth and reaches well beyond the five parties to the Agreement so the parties look to other fora and national and international mechanisms to take appropriate action to address climate change."

This was the conclusion when the five polar bear nations met last week in Tromsø. The Polar Bear Meeting was the first of its kind since 1981.

The conclusion on the three-days conference was clear. Today it is not hunting but the climate change which are the biggest threat to the worlds polar bears. Climate change affects the habitat of polar bears by melting the ice they live on and hunt from.

The polar bear meeting caused huge international attention. Not least from NGO's which feared that the nations would not face the climate change as a problem.

The current global population of polar bears is estimated to be between 20,000 and 25,000 spread over Russia, Canada, the US, Greenland and the Norwegian island of Svalbard. Experts believe this number could be reduced by up to a third within the next 40 years if climate change is not kept under control.