Species status report : Status of polar bear in the NWT

Cover illustration photo credit: Gordon Court Status of Polar Bear in the NWT Assessment of Polar Bear The Northwest Territories Species at Risk Committee met in Behchokö, Northwest Territories on December 3, 2012 and assessed the biological status of Polar Bear in the Northwest Territories. [...] Traditional and community knowledge subpopulations of polar bears in the NWT are indicate that polar bear abundance in certain shared with other jurisdictions as noted above; areas changes from year to year, and there within the borders of the NWT the number of have been population ups and downs in the polar bears is likely to only be somewhere past. [...] Page x of 153 Status of Polar Bear in the NWT Traditional & Community Knowledge Scientific Knowledge Threats and limiting factors Several threats to polar bears and their habitat The main limiting factor affecting polar bear in the NWT have been identified through distribution and numbers in the NWT is traditional and community knowledge. [...] Distribution Trends Where is the species found The polar bears of the NWT 1,467,985 km2 in the NWT?; Estimated live pre-dominantly on the sea- extent of occurrence in the ice of the Arctic Ocean and NWT (in km2) Beaufort Sea. [...] For each one, changes to sea-ice habitat due and numbers in the NWT is indicate how imminent it is to the cumulative impacts of loss of habitat (sea-ice) leading and what the degree/scale climate change, offshore oil to changes in availability of of the impact is (imminence and gas exploration and food (access to and abundance and magnitude).