Access
This article is part of Nature's premium content.
Published online 8 January 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.420
News
US decision on polar bear status on hold
Officials say they need more time to assess climate threat.
US officials have delayed their decision on whether polar bears should be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, missing their 9 January deadline. Unlike previous assessments, the status of the bears relies heavily on climate change and the future of the planet’s Arctic ice – factors that officials say make the assessment more complicated.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Comments
Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email redesign@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.
If we accept that global warming and global cooling are cyclical, natural phenomena, and that all species have been subject to its effects, good or bad, in the past, do we need to intervene and try to influence nature's laws? My understanding is that most species that have existed have also disappeared because they did not adapt to the changing environment. If the call for action, to intervene in the salvation of the polar bear emanates from the belief that, man is causing the global warming problem, and that global warming is in fact an immediate threat to all species, then humanity, in my opinion, has a monumental task to try to save not only the polar bear but itself and the whole planet.
The ecological imbalance that human beings are creating in the world is responsible for all these changes. The animal and plant kingdom slowly dying. In my opinion this trend leads to disastrous situation for human mankind
Perhaps the reason for the delay is that if the bears are classified as threatned or endangered, then exploration and drilling for oil on the north slope in Alaska might be delayed or impeded. And Carlos, if you are implying that the current levels of global warming are part of a natural cycle, I think you will find (if you explore) that this view is not accepted by many and certainly not most. YOu might need to visit the White House for complete agrement.