Polar Bears on the Edge

Book excerpt: Do you like polar bears? Do you want polar bears to be around in 50 years? Do you think that climate change is the only major threat to polar bear survival? Do you believe that polar bears are adequately protected today? Would you like to contribute to saving polar bears today and in the future? If your answer to any of those questions is yes, you need to read this book. "This book is an eye-opener and should kick off extensive debates."Dr. Thor S. Larsen, professor emeritus, Member of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group 1968-1985. "In this impassioned book Morten raises very important, provocative questions that are not being addressed by the international environmental groups." Art Wolfe, Award-winning conservation photographer. In this book, the author analyses the current status of the polar bear. And he punctures the myth that polar bears are well protected and managed today. While most people think that global warming is the overhanging threat to polar bear survival, the author documents that it is actually the continuation of an unsustainable hunting pressure that is driving the species towards extinction. Across 228 pages, interspersed with beautiful photographs, Morten Joergensen demonstrates how there are probably fewer polar bears than most authorities claim, how hunting is the greatest manageable threat to the species, how current protection measures are insufficient, how the animal has been commercialized and how lack of courage and honesty is allowing this scenario to continue. The book also contains a long string of realistic and very urgent recommendations for action - to save polar bears before they are gone forever.