Good but cautious news for Svalbard polar bears - 40% population increase in 11 years

[OnlinePoker]

The Norwegian Polar Institute has carried out a counting of polar bears in Svalbard, financed by the Ministry of Climate and Environment. The results show that there are probably more polar bears than the last time the bears were counted in this area in 2004, in spite of the fact that there have been many years with poor ice cover during this period.

http://www.npolar.no/en/news/2015/12-23-counting-of-polar-bears-in-svalbard.html

[NickB79]

1. Cautious indeed

A rise in the population does not come as a big surprise, as population numbers previously have been low due to the fact that these bears were hunted until 40 years ago, Dr. Aars added.

The trend for the ice cover in the Arctic is that it is diminishing in extent as well as in thickness. It is expected that the ice conditions will have a further negative trend, which will be a challenge for ice-dependent species such as polar bears.