“In response to today’s release of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Polar Bear Conservation Management Plan, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released the following statement from Elisabeth Kruger, Arctic program officer and polar bear expert: “The plan shows the complexity of what it means to truly protect America’s most iconic Arctic species. It addresses the things we need to consider in near term and rightly highlights that climate change mitigation is the most important action needed to secure polar bear populations. In the end, the polar bear’s viability will ultimately come down to how aggressively our planet addresses the climate crisis. “In taking action now, the plan can put polar bears in the best position to be as resilient as possible to climate change. Timely implementation of the plan is crucial as the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. Now, the plan just needs the dedicated financial resources from the federal government to see it through. “If our grandchildren are to live in a world with a healthy population of wild polar bears, we need to take responsibility to limit further increases in climate change and care for our planet. We have no other option than to accelerate the transition to a climate-smart future.”

“In 2008, the Service listed polar bears as a threatened species worldwide under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) due to range-wide declines in sea ice. A threatened species is any species that is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Critical habitat has also been designated for polar bears in the United States.”