Canada's Lack of Action on Climate Change Could Doom Polar Bears

Polar bears in Canada's north have always wandered far in search of food. Their main food source is seals, and in order to hunt them, the bears have to follow the ice. This method worked well for millennia, but with the coming of climate change, and the severe reduction of sea ice in the bears' hunting grounds, these large mammals have to wander much farther afield than ever before.

The increased wandering, in itself, is not the issue. The issue is the fact that climate change is thinning and reducing the sea ice. This thin, or non-existent ice, makes it more difficult for the bears to catch seals. To find the ice and seals, the bears have enlarged their hunting routes. One bear tracked by scientists covered over 3,500 kilometres from Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories, to Alaska, to within 30 kilometres of Wrangel Island in Northern Russia. She then turned around and headed back to the Canadian border. (Going, Going..., Ed Struzik, Edmonton Journal, February 22, 2009)A hunting trip of this magnitude reduces the energy storehouse of the polar bear, and raises the question whether it will be able to breed, raise its young, or live through its summer fast on land.

To tackle the problem, the Canadian Federal Government has done what it does best - hold meetings. In January, 2009 a closed door, round-table discussion was held concerning the future of the polar bear. This meeting included members from the Inuit communities, for whom the polar bear is an iconic species, but no real progress was made. Furthermore, only three people directly concerned with the status of polar bears were asked to speak: Pete Ewins, director of species conservation for World Wildlife Fund of Canada, Gabriel Nirlungayuk, director of wildlife for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., and Jeff Hutchings, chairman of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, (COSEWIC.) ⁽¹⁾

Disagreement ruled for the most of the day. According to a January 17, 2009 Globe and Mail article by Patrick White entitled "No Common Ground at First Polar Bear Summit," researchers claimed that the polar bears could be virtually extinct within a century, while Inuit leaders claimed that numbers were increasing, had doubled, in fact, during the last fifty years. Harry Flaherty, chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board stated later in the interview with Patrick White of the Globe and Mail that: "They are using the polar bear as a tool to fight climate change. They shouldn't do that. The polar bear will survive. It has been surviving for thousands of years." ⁽²⁾

After the meeting, Jim Prentice, Federal Minister of the Environment, had very little to say. "Climate change is important, but climate change is a planetary issue," he remarked. ⁽³⁾ It is primarily Canada's issue, however, if we want to save the massive bears. Canada is home to over half the polar bears on the globe, and five of our 13 polar bear populations are in trouble. ⁽⁴⁾At the present time the polar bear is listed as species of "special concern", a very low risk category, by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.⁽⁵⁾ The risk category must be raised, for any important legislation to protect the bears to be passed. Though polar bear data is very hard to gather, due to the animals' huge range, the Information for the Unification of Conservation, (World Conservation Union - Canada) has shown that six of the populations are reduced and two, Viscount Melville, and McClintock Channel populations, are severely reduced. Only five are currently stable. In addition, the survey listed four main threats to the bears:

(1) Loss of sea ice habitat due to climate change;

(2) Increased industrial activity, mainly oil and gas exploration and development;

(3) Unsustainable harvest of some populations, both legal and illegal harvesting;

(4) Loss of primary prey, such as seals, due to the reduction in sea ice.⁽⁶⁾

There are also lesser threats, but the main one is habitat loss due to climate change. Climate change is a planetary issue, but its solution must be at a national level. Finger pointing must stop, and individual nations must take the decision to make valid and cutting edge solutions to climate change. Canada can be a leader in this area; we have to be. The polar bears won't wait long.

(1) Going, Going..., Ed Struzik, Sunday Reader, Edmonton Journal, February 22, 2009

(2)No Common Ground at First Polar Bear Summit, Patrick White, Globe and Mail, January 17, 2009

(3)Going, Going..., Ed Struzik, Sunday Reader, Edmonton Journal, February 22, 2009

(4) World Wildlife Fund, Canada, Polar Bear Fact Sheet, January, 2008

(5)Federal Summit on Bears Invites Polar Opposities, Lindsey Wiebe, Winnipeg Free Press, January 15, 2009

(6)World Wildlife Fund, Canada, Polar Bear Fact Sheet, January, 2008