Polar bear populations are declining.

The number of polar bear populations that are declining has increased. In 2005, a group of scientists and managers from five Arctic nations unanimously concluded that two of Canada’s 13 populations were depleted and five were declining. This is in contrast to a 2001 assessment that only one to two populations were in decline.

In the Western Hudson Bay, published peer-reviewed studies show that the population declines and other changes - such as reduced weight, decreased reproductive success, and decreased size - are clearly linked to the decline in sea ice.

Since 2002, many polar bear populations in Alaska have shown increasing signs of stress, including drownings, malnutrition, and cannibalism. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that all polar bears in Alaska may be extinct as early as 2050.


The best available science shows that polar bears are facing extinction due to the loss of their sea ice habitat.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife has concluded that polar bears are threatened with extinction, based on the best available science as required by the Endangered Species Act. The agency reached this conclusion based not only on the well-documented, severe decline of the Western Hudson Bay population -- which is directly linked to the early break-up and loss of seasonal sea ice -- but on other empirical, peer-reviewed, scientific studies demonstrating changes in denning behavior and prey availability. This finding was also based on well-documented, and often unusual, incidences of polar bear drowning, cannibalism, and malnourishment. Finally, modeling has long been used in making population forecasts for wildlife, and the climate models used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey are robust and generally accepted within the scientific community.

In addition, the majority of climate models have, to date, underestimated the actual observed sea ice loss. In fact, the 2007 record low sea ice extent is far below that predicted by any of the 10 climate models used by the USGS. Therefore, the assessment of risk to the polar bear is actually conservative.


Global warming will harm biodiversity in the Arctic.

There is overwhelming scientific evidence that warming temperatures not only will lead to the extinction of the polar bear, but will affect other ice-dependent species in the Arctic and lead to widespread and highly disruptive shifts in the entire Arctic ecosystem.


Federal protection for polar bears would not affect subsistence hunting.

Some indigenous peoples in Canada have expressed concern that protecting polar bears under the Endangered Species Act could limit subsistence hunting. This is not the case. The Endangered Species Act contains an explicit exception for subsistence hunting.


Polar bear protection is not a substitute for global warming legislation.

Protection of the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act would require federal agencies to “consult” with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before proceeding with industrial development and other actions that may cause harm to the species. While endangered species protection could result in additional consideration for proposed sources of global warming pollution, and would provide agencies with an important new lens through which to assess global warming pollution, dramatic cutbacks in this pollution can only be achieved through the passage of national global warming legislation.