Polar bear conservation action plan

Canada will be working with four other countries (the U.S., Russia, Norway and Greenland) that have wild polar bears to develop a conservation action plan over the next three years.
During that time, “WWF will continue to work hard in supporting many polar bear conservation projects,” says Pete Ewins, WWF-Canada’s Senior Officer Species Conservation, Arctic Program, “including with northern communities, regional organizations, governments, as well as with some companies to accelerate measures that will help address the green house gas (GHG) emissions threat, and advance projects like the human-bear conflict reduction work in Inuit communities where bears are spending more time ashore as sea ice retreats.”

Female polar bear with two cubs, Wapusk National Park, Canada (c) Pete Ewins/WWF-Canada
Canada is home to two-thirds of the world’s polar bears, which have been increasingly under threat by climate change, which shrinks Arctic sea ice, restricting the bears’ traditional hunting range. “The entire world must work together to address this threat in order to safeguard polar bears and other arctic wildlife adapted to the ice-dominated ecosystems,” says Ewins.
WWF believes that we must shift to a renewable energy based economy by 2050. “Society has the tools to do this, and now we must make the transitions to address escalating GHG emissions and stabilize, not only arctic sea ice, but our entire planet’s climate systems, which we now know are moderated by arctic ice.”
As the climate warms, Arctic sea ice is disappearing. Almost every summer, the amount of remaining ice gets smaller. That summer ice is vitally important to a whole range of animals and to local people. One stretch of ice is projected to remain when all other large areas of summer ice are gone. This is the Last Ice Area.
For more information about WWF’s work protecting polar bear habitat, please click here.