According to projections of geographical surveys, polar bear species are under threat of extinction; actually, by 2050, two thirds of the species will have disappeared due to adverse effects of global warming. As climatic changes occur, polar bear swimming conditions become dangerous and these welcoming creatures face the inevitability of food scarcity. Global warming has caused disappearance of sea ice, forcing polar bears to live on land during summer seasons. On land, bears get nothing to eat and they stay for long times without hunting which has caused decline in their average weight by around fifteen percent. The unfavorable conditions have cut short bear’s hunting seasons coupled with their reproduction rates, which have seen the whole population decline, by more than twenty percent.
Dangerous swimming conditions, caused by retreat of ice causing the remaining ice to be further from shore, underscore bears normal lives. The gap between shore and ice causes rougher wave conditions, which poses danger for bears while swimming to sea ice from the shore. Continued threat of polar bear survival has been caused by loss of sea ice due to climatic change mostly caused by gas emissions (Constible, Sandro, & Lee, 2008, p.105). Gas and oil development and exploration together with industrial activities have threatened the very survival of polar bears.
Polar bear specialist groups held two meetings, the first in 2005, while the second one took place in 2009. Nineteen subpopulations of polar bear were reported in the meeting. In 2005, five subpopulations were declining out of the total nineteen populations. Five of nineteen subpopulations were stable and two were increasing; however, seven populations were not recorded due insufficient data. The data from the 2005 meeting showed that there was hope for polar bears because only five out of nineteen populations were declining. The fact that five of them were stable meant that surviving conditions were habitable for polar bears.
Regrettably, another meeting held later in 2009 dashed the hopes that had begun resurrecting in the 2005 meeting; the data presented showed worrying trends. The statistics showed that eight subpopulations were declining; a higher number compared to five in 2005. Increase in number of declining population is an evidence of declining population trends for polar bears. Three populations were stable in 2009 according to the data presented by scientists in the 2009 meeting. In comparison to 2005 where five of the populations were stable, it shows that there was a decline in stability of polar bear population. The number of increasing subpopulations had reduced from two in 2005, to one in 2009. Seven of the populations in 2009 were not determined due to insufficient data.
Histogram showing the decline of polar bear
Polar Bear Decline data sheet
Polar bear population decline lies on the continued loss of sea ice habitat because polar bears rely on the sea ice for food. The summer melt-off in 2009 was very high in the Arctic compared to other years and other places. Present global warming trends should be reduced to avoid greater losses in future, which are estimated to be high. It has been estimated that by 2080, all polar bear species will be lost if proper measures are not implemented. Therefore, reduction of carbon emissions among other global warming mitigation measures could save polar bears from further decline.
Reference
Constible, J., Sandro, L, H., Richard, E, L. (2008). Climate change from Pole to Pole: Biology Investigations. United States: National Science Teachers association.