IFAW: At polar bear forum, IFAW calls for an end to trade and action on climate change
At an international polar bear forum this week – marking the 40th anniversary of the Agreement on the Conservation of the Polar Bear – the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) called on countries to go further in addressing threats to polar bears including climate change and corresponding loss of polar bear habitat, and by banning the international commercial trade in polar bear parts.
The 1973 Agreement – a treaty signed by all five polar bear range countries at a time when polar bear populations were at risk of disappearing due to uncontrolled hunting – focuses on threats of that time, including unregulated exploitation, illegal trade, pollution and human conflict. While some of the greatest threats have changed since then, the need for conservation of the species is just as pressing as it was 40 years ago.
Dr Masha Vorontsova, IFAW Regional Director for Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States, has been an influential advisor to the Russian government on polar bear conservation policies and anti-poaching measures.
“We need to meet these threats head-on instead of expecting the 40-year-old agreement to do so adequately,” said Vorontsova. “The USSR was the first country to raise concern on the well-being and survival of polar bears. Now we need a declaration for polar bear protection that will address the changing dynamics of the threats they face.”
An IFAW delegation at the Polar Bear Forum, which runs from December 4-6, is one of only five non-governmental organisations joining government representatives from all of the range countries at the forum, which will be hosted by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
“The living symbol of the Arctic is under the gun – both figuratively in the case of climate change, and literally in the case of poaching and over-exploitation for trophies and parts,” said Azzedine Downes, CEO of IFAW.
Given the growing demand for polar bears and their parts, and the uncertainty of their future in the wild, IFAW continues to support transferring the polar bear from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Appendix II to the increased protections of Appendix I. This type of protection would ban the international sale of dead polar bears, thereby addressing the growing international market and alleviating a threat to an already struggling species.
There are five range states for polar bears: The United States, Norway, Russia, Greenland/Denmark, and Canada. Canada, however, is the only country that still allows its polar bears to be killed and sold on the global market. Thus, the international trade in polar bears that is the issue for CITES Parties is predominantly trade in polar bears from populations in Canada, where 13 of the 19 polar bear populations are found.
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For more information or to arrange interviews please contact Clare Sterling at IFAW on 020 7587 6708, mobile 07917 507717 or email csterling@ifaw.org
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