The not-so-disappearing polar bear
By Bjørn Lomborg
Last Updated:
3:01pm BST 16/10/2007
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The case of the not-so-vanishing polar bears shows that we shouldn't let the smartest solutions get lost amid the hype, writes Bjørn Lomborg
A forlorn polar bear stands wistfully on a melting iceberg. This evocative image brings to life the threat of global warming. At least, that's what the editors of Time magazine thought.
Bjørn Lomborg: Al Gore's claims about polar bear populations are based on a single sightingA polar bear was their choice for the cover of a climate change-themed issue, along with the warning: "Be worried. Be very worried".
Former US vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore says melting ice is causing polar bears to drown.
The Independent newspaper believes polar bears will soon be found only in zoos, while the World Wildlife Fund predicts they will be unable to reproduce within five years.
The polar bear is being used to spur the world to take drastic action against climate change. Facts derail this call to arms. This is the climate change scare writ small.
In the 1960s, there were probably 5,000 polar bears around the globe. Forty years later - thanks largely to a reduction in hunting - the World Conservation Union (IUCN) counts five-times that many.
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The world's 25,000 polar bears live in 20 distinct populations. Two populations are growing. Most are stable. Just two are waning.
The declining populations are in areas that have gotten colder over the past 50 years. The habitats of the two thriving groups have actually become warmer.
If polar bears are today's 'canaries in the coalmine' then the coalmine does not appear half as fearsome as some claim.
Al Gore bases his claim of "drowning" bears on a single sighting of four dead bears the day after an abrupt windstorm. The sighting occurred in an area where polar bear numbers are increasing.
Last year a Canadian polar bear specialist summed up the difference between the facts and the hype: "It is just silly to predict the demise of polar bears in 25 years based on media-assisted hysteria."
Rest of article. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Con...arth/2007/10/16/eabjorn116.xml&site=30&page=0