Tag Archives: CBD

Activist laments ESA listing of polar bears in 2008 failed to achieve her political goals

Posted on May 27, 2018 | Comments Off

The activist lawyer primarily responsible for polar bears being listed as ‘threatened’ on the US Endangered Species List (ESA) in 2008 is frustrated that those efforts have not generated her preferred political action. Kassie Siegel also claims in another 10 years it will be too late to save polar bears from extinction — despite clear evidence to the contrary.

Walking bear_129029633_web size

In an emotional rant over at The Hill with a predictably hysterical headline, Siegel perhaps reveals more than she should about her motivation (“Keeping fossil fuels in the ground is the only way to save polar bears ravaged by climate change,” 26 May 2018).

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Posted in Advocacy, Conservation Status, Population, Sea ice habitat

Tagged activists, anniversary, CBD, climate change, ESA, global warming, polar bear, politics, sea ice, walrus

IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group out-lived its usefulness 20 years ago

Posted on January 1, 2015 | Comments Off

The IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) should have been disbanded in 1996, the year polar bears were down-graded from a status of ‘vulnerable to extinction’ to ‘lower risk – conservation dependent’ (now called ‘least concern’) on the IUCN Red List.

Bumpersticker from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, courtesy Joe Prins.

Polar bears had recovered from previous decades of wanton over-hunting — by all measures used by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, they were a conservation success story.

Why did the IUCN and Arctic governments not break up the PBSG back in 1996? Leaving the group intact once polar bears were down-graded to ‘least concern’ simply made its members desperate to justify their existence. That’s precisely what we’ve seen over the last 20 years — PBSG members working tirelessly to ensure the organization didn’t go extinct.

In fact, polar bears are in no more danger of extinction now than they were in 1996, despite dedicated efforts of the PBSG to convince the world otherwise. Take a look at the history and see if you come to a different conclusion.
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Posted in Advocacy, Conservation Status, Sea ice habitat

Tagged activists, Arctic nations, CBD, conservation status, data deficient, extinction, IUCN, IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group, least consern, PBSG, polar bear, sea ice models, spin, survival, threatened, vulnerable

Center for Biological Diversity provides a public disservice on polar bear status

Posted on June 18, 2014 | Comments Off

Media agency Aljazeera gave free advertizing the other day (June 16, 2014, “New TV ads focus on plight of polar bears in warming world,” by Renee Lewis) to the Center for Biological Diversity’s TV fear-mongering campaign about polar bears.

USFWS photo

With unmitigated gall, it’s being billed as a “public service announcement.”
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Posted in Advocacy, Cannibalism, Conservation Status

Tagged Aljazeera, animal tragedy porn, appeals to emotion, brink of extinction, CBD, Center for Biological Diversity, extinction, fear-mongering, global warming, Kieran Suckling, plight of the polar bear, polar bear, predictions, public service announcement, scam, TV ads

Activists pressure tactics to force Canada to list polar bears as ‘threatened’ have failed

Posted on June 7, 2014 | Comments Off

The Center for Biological Diversity has failed in its bid to use NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) to pressure Canada to list polar bears as a species ‘threatened’ with extinction — wrapping up a story I wrote about twice last year (here and here).