Polar Bears International (PBI) is a non-profitpolar bearconservation organization registered in the U.S. and Canada. It is a science-based charity whose research, education, and advocacy programs address the issues that are endangering polar bears.[2] While Churchill, Canada, serves as an important hub for its scientists and educators, the organization's work on behalf of polar bears spans the circumpolar Arctic, including Svalbard (Norway), Russia, Alaska (U.S.), and other parts of Canada.[3][4][5]
Polar Bears International is known for its research efforts that inform conservation, with a team that includes polar bear and climate scientists on its staff and scientific advisory board.[6][7] Its chief scientist emeritus is Steven Amstrup,[8] winner of the 2012 Indianapolis Prize,[9] considered the Nobel Prize of animal conservation. Prior to joining PBI's staff in 2010, Amstrup spearheaded the USGS team whose series of reports led to the polar bear listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.[10]
To raise awareness and drive positive change, Polar Bears International offers a number of education and outreach programs.[11] It also organizes various events such as International Polar Bear Day (February 27), Arctic Sea ice Day (July 15), and Polar Bear Week (the first week of November).[12] These initiatives highlight the importance of preserving polar bears and the Arctic ecosystem.
Polar Bears International was founded in 1992 by a group of wildlife enthusiasts who traveled to Churchill, Canada, every year to watch and photograph polar bears.[13] It has been led by Krista Wright since 2013.
Conservation Challenges
Polar bears are marine mammals, built to live on top of the frozen ocean. They hunt seals from the surface of the sea ice, and also rely on the ice to travel, hunt, breed and sometimes den.[14]
As climate change warms the planet, Arctic sea ice has been melting at a rate of 12.2% per decade, reducing the polar bears’ access to their seal prey and affecting their survival.[15][16] Scientists predict that without action on climate change, we will lose most of the world’s polar bears by the end of the century.[17]
Some polar bear populations in areas with longer ice-free seasons have already declined. The Western Hudson Bay population, for example, is roughly half of what it was in the 1980s, and the Southern Beaufort Sea population has declined by about 40 percent.[18][19] Other threats to polar bears include poorly regulated hunting; disturbances from human activity, especially during the denning period; conflicts with people; and pollution.[20] Polar Bears International works to address both the long- and short-term challenges that polar bears face.
Description
Churchill, Manitoba, is known throughout the world as the place where hundreds of polar bears gather each fall to wait for the sea ice to return to Hudson Bay. The town is also a hub for Polar Bears International and several of PBI's programs including Tundra Connections webcasts[21] – free, live webcasts provided by polar bear and climate scientists and geared towards students, families and professionals, Polar Bear Cams with Explore.org, and Climate Alliance training take place.
In partnership with Google, polar bear habitats in Churchill were added to Google Maps in February 2014.[22][23] PBI has worked with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to create education programs regarding polar bear conservation.[24] In November 2019, PBI unveiled the Polar Bears International House,[25] a new center in Churchill.
Research
Denned polar bears are invisible under the snow; therefore, winter-time petroleum exploration and development activities in northern Alaska have potential to disturb maternal polar bears and their cubs. Previous research determined forward-looking infrared (FLIR) imagery could detect many polar bear maternal dens under the snow, but also identified limitations of FLIR imagery. This study evaluated the efficacy of FLIR-surveys conducted by oil-field operators from 2004 to 2016.[26]
The study "The ecological and behavioral significance of short-term food caching in polar bears (Ursus maritimus)" observed wild polar bears caching of food and has led to the conclusion that such behavior does not occur or is negligible in this species per observations of short-term hoarding by polar bears between 1973 and 2018 in Svalbard, Greenland, and Canada.[27]
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