Polar bear endangered status "likely" - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Polar bear endangered status "likely"
Wed Oct 3, 2007 2:42pm EDT

By Gerard Wynn and Alister Doyle

LONDON (Reuters) - An accelerating melt of
Arctic sea ice is likely to make the polar bear
officially "endangered" in the very near future,
the head of a global wildlife conservation network
said on Wednesday.

"They're running out of ice to be on," said Julia
Marton-Lefevre, the director general of the World
Conservation Union (IUCN) which publishes an
annual "Red List" of threatened species.

The IUCN, grouping 83 states and hundreds of
conservation organizations, currently lists the
polar bear as "vulnerable".

-snip-

Placing the polar bear on the second highest alert,
below critically endangered, would underscore how
manmade climate change has arrived and could
even bring political fallout.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL0314002820071003

[XemaSab]

1. The problem with Endangered status

is there has to be critical habitat, a recovery plan, and impacts have to be assessed in environmental documents. :P