US proposal to ban polar bear trade voted down at UN wildlife meeting

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species decided a ban would hurt indigenous economies
Polar Bears on Ice Pack at Sunset
The US proposal to ban trade on polar bear skins was voted down at the UN over concerns that it did not pose a significant threat to the animals and that it could hurt indigenous economies. Photograph: Kennan Ward/Corbis Kennan Ward/© Kennan Ward/CORBIS

A US-backed proposal to ban the international trade of polar bear skins, teeth and claws was defeated today at a UN wildlife meeting over concerns it would hurt indigenous economies and arguments the practice didn't pose a significant threat to the animals.




"There is no doubt that action must continue to ensure the conservation of polar bears. Canada's goal is long-term survival of polar bears," the Canadian representative Basile Van Havre said. "But Canada does not think the proposal is supported by facts."

Frank Pokiak, an indigenous leader from Canada, said communities in the Arctic have hunted bears for generations, mostly for meat and pelts for clothing and shelter. He said they hunt them in a sustainable way and would continue doing so with or without an international ban.


The big white bear, the world's largest land meat-eater, nanuq to the Inuit, may be uniquely susceptible to climate change as rising temperatures fast shrink its habitat, the Arctic sea ice.

Many bears spend their whole lives on the ice, mating, giving birth and hunting for their main prey, the ringed seal. But Arctic summers may be almost free of sea ice within 30 years, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted last April.

