A scientific committee advising Canada's government on Friday said the survival of the polar bear is threatened by climate change, but the species does not face extinction.
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada determined the polar bear was a "special concern species" because evidence wasn't strong enough to recommend elevating the polar bear's status to threatened or endangered.
"That's not to say that it's not in trouble," said committee chairman Jeff Hutchings. "A special concern species is a species at risk in Canada."
Hutchings said the committee is not recommending changing the status because it's difficult to calculate how melting summer sea ice — the polar bear's habitat — correlates with declining numbers of the species.
Pete Ewins of the World Wildlife Fund pointed out that seven of Canada's 13 populations are either in decline or showing signs of stress such as reduced body weight due to climate change. Ewins called the committee's recommendation not to change the polar bear's status "an easy way out."
Along with the reduction of sea ice, a consequence of increasing temperatures, Hutchings also noted that over-harvesting in the northern part of the polar bears' range puts the bears at risk of survival.
If Environment Minister John Baird accepts the group's findings, Canada would need to address threats to the animal's survival, including climate change.
If the polar bear had been placed in the "threatened" status, Canada would have required prohibitions like bans on hunting and destruction of habitat for the country's estimated 15,500 polar bears, roughly two-thirds of the global population.
Source:Xinhua/Agencies
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