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Climate change pushes polar bears towards extinction
Global warming is a threat to our health, agriculture, forests and wildlife, and one of the many species at risk is the polar bear.
Polar problem
Climate change is melting the polar bears icy habitat. About 10% of the permanent ice covering the Arctic is melting every year, and experts warn that by 2080 there could be virtually no ice in the Arctic for much of the year.
As a result the bears face starvation and eventual extinction.
In winter, they depend on sea ice to hunt for food in order to build up their fat stores in preparation for a springtime fast.
Their body fat then has to sustain them through the spring as the ice melts and the bears are forced to stay ashore until the next winter.
The issue
Climate change is making the ice melt too early and as a consequence the bears are coming ashore without enough body fat. They can't sustain themselves through spring or nurse their cubs. Some bears are even forced to venture into residential areas to find food.
As GMTV correspondent Lucy van den Brul learnt whilst she was in Canada filming the polar bears in their natural habitat, we need to act now to prevent global warming, or the polar bear could be one of it's first victims.
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