Conservationists Propose Polar Bear Trade Ban, Opponents Cite Global Warming as Real Threat

A proposal by American officials to ban the sale of polar bear fur in order to safeguard the species from extinction has drawn opposition from a Canadian indigenous group and conservationist organizations.

U.S. officials proposed the ban for discussion at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) that is going to be held in Bangkok this week but Canada's Arctic Inuit -- an organization representing indigenous groups -- along with The International Union for Conservation of Nature Species and The World Wildlife Fund  oppose the ban on the grounds that the trade of polar bear fur and body parts does not pose a threat to the species' survival, Reuters reports.

Canada's Arctic Inuit officials say that many Inuit settlements depend on polar bear fur to support themselves.

"It's a means of a livelihood for Inuit in villages and communities that don't have a lot of other means for economic opportunities," Terry Audla, head of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, told Reuters. Audia added that an estimated 600 bears are killed annually and half of them are sold for roughly $4,850 each.

Groups opposing the ban say the real threat to polar bears is climate change and the melting of Arctic ice. 

"Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that the primary global threat to polar bears is loss of sea ice habitat due to anthropogenic climate change - not international trade," officials with The International Union for Conservation of Nature Species said in a statement. "Habitat loss and the resulting population declines can only be mitigated through global reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases."

But U.S. officials say the polar bear trade only makes matters worse for polar bears who face dire conditions as climate change devastates their environment. Citing statistics gather by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 3,200 items produced from polar bear remains were exported in Canada, Norway, the U.S., and Greenland from 2001 through 2010.

"The current level of trade may have a detrimental impact on the status of the species because trade, particularly commercial trade, compounds the threat to the species posed by habitat loss," U.S. officials wrote in the proposal.

The global population of polar bears is estimated at 25,000, roughly 16,000 of them roam in Canada. Polar bears are not listed as an endangered species.