ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS to Polar Bears

Human acts-related factor that has an impact on polar bears populations, however there are other, more wide-spread, problems that need even more international cooperation in order to find solutions.

Since the formation of the International Union for Conservation of Nature/Species Survival Commission’s Polar Bear Specialist Group in 1965 scientists and managers from all five nations with polar bear populations have gathered to exchange information. This has fostered good cooperative relations and helped identify global trends in the health and status of polar bear populations that might otherwise be missed.

Such internationally shared information include disturbing data that shows how human-caused factors such as global warming and pollution, are already taking their toll on the health of polar bears. Studies of both European and North American polar bear populations are revealing that body weights are decreasing in some areas, with corresponding decreases in reproduction and cub survival, and that birth defects have increased.

Defenders of Wildlife - OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS to Polar Bears