Images of starved polar bears, desperately searching for food have made the animal the face of global warming in recent years.
As the planet continues to rapidly warm, a new study brings a dire warning: if humans do no reduce greenhouse gas emissions, most populations of polar bears may not survive beyond 2100.
Some populations have probably already crossed key thresholds that will make survival almost impossible, according to the study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Although the number of bears will probably be largely reduced, there is some hope that some of the polar bears can be saved, with moderate adjustments to heat-trapping gas emissions, it could lead to them continuing in a few areas of the Arctic.
Since the 1990s, the Arctic has had levels of warming that are more than double the global average. Unusually high air temperatures are the reason for the Arctic’s shrinking sea ice and are caused mainly by people burning fossil fuels.
Other studies have found the Arctic could be iceless during summer months as early as 2024-2050.
