Global Warming

Global Warming Is driving polar bears toward extinction, researchers say. Polar bears could become nearly extinct by the end of the century as a result of shrinking sea ice in the Arctic if global warming continues unabated, scientists said. Arctic sea ice is now declining at a rate of 13.1% per decade. The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as the global average, causing the ice that polar bears depend on to melt away.

Polar bears rely on sea ice to hunt and store energy for the summer and autumn, when food can be scarce. Sea ice now melts earlier in the spring and forms later in the autumn in the bears’ southern range, like Hudson Bay and James Bay in Canada. As the bears spend longer periods without food, their health declines. For every week earlier the ice breaks up in Hudson Bay, bears come ashore roughly 10 kg (22 lbs) lighter and in poorer condition.