WASHINGTON: About a third of the world’s polar bears could be in imminent danger from greenhouse-gas emissions in as soon as a decade, a US government report shows.
The US Geological Survey (USGS), the Interior Department’s research arm, said updated scientific models don’t bode well for polar bear populations across the world, especially in Alaska.
The report released this week is part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s recovery plan for the polar bear. It is expected to be published on Thursday in the Federal Register.
Greenhouse gases are blamed for the climate warming that’s reducing the polar bear’s summer sea ice habitat.
The effects of diminished sea ice will lead to population declines throughout the century. Scientists saw no rebound in population numbers in the projections that stretched to the year 2100.
The scientific models attempted to predict the effects on polar bear populations under two scenarios: one in which greenhouse-gas emissions stabilized, and the other in which they continued unabated. Under either scenario, the bears in the Alaska, Russia and Norway group—with an estimated population of about 8,500—would start to be affected in either 2025 or 2030, said lead author Todd Atwood, an Alaska-based USGS research wildlife biologist.
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