Offer to put polar bears on the list of endangered

The US has just proposed bringing the polar bear to the list of endangered species due to the decline in ice in this region. This is the first time that the United States has acknowledged a direct link between global warming and the threat to species.

President George W Bush has previously insisted on refusing to support mandatory control of the CO2 that is believed to be the main cause of global warming.

However, the US Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne recently admitted that the polar bear is ' one of the last surviving wild species' , adding that 'we are concerned about the habitat of the white bear. The Arctic may be narrowed by melting ice. '

He also stressed that offshore exploration of gas and oil in Alaska does not pose a danger to polar bears.

The final decision on bringing the polar bear to the list of endangered species will be announced in a year, so the US government has more time to consider.

However, advocacy groups welcomed the US proposal. Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biodiversity says this is a 'landmark decision'.

The inclusion of a polar bear in a list of threatened species requires that all agencies do not make any decisions that threaten the survival of this species.

Currently the world only 20,000-25,000 Arctic white bears, about 4,700 of these live in Alaska state of America. The Swiss polar bear group of experts, based in Switzerland, forecasts that in the next 45 years, the number of polar bears will decrease by 30%.

WALL VY