Thursday, 18 March 2010 12:37

Doha, Qatar (AP) .- A US-backed proposal to ban international trade of skins, teeth and claws of polar bears was defeated on Thursday at a United Nations meeting on wildlife for fear of damaging the economies indigenous and finding that the practice does not impose a significant threat to animals.

The Americans held in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES acronym in English) of 175 nations, that the sale of fur of polar bears in addition to the loss of marine habitat of animals due to climate change . There are projections that the number of polar bears, estimated 20,000 to 25,000, could decline by two thirds by 2050 because of habitat loss in the Arctic.

 

"We're disappointed,''said Jane Lyder, deputy under secretary for fish, wildlife and parks at the Interior Department. `` But we understand that CITES is still trying to understand how to incorporate climate change into their decision making.''

 

Canada, along with Norway and Greenland, led the opposition to the U.S. proposal. They said the threat posed by trade was minimal and that hunting of aboriginal communities was crucial to their economies.

Only 2% of Canadian polar bears is traded internationally and strictly regulates the nation's trade, said Canada.

 

"There is no doubt that action should be continued to ensure the conservation of polar bears. Canada's objective is long-term survival of polar bears,''said the Canadian representative Basile van Havre. `` But Canada does not believe that the proposal is substantiated by facts.''

 

Frank Pokiak, an Indian leader from Canada, said that Arctic communities have hunted bears since time immemorial, mainly to feed and dress their meat and protect their skins. He added that the hunt in a sustainable way and will continue to do so with or without an international ban.

 

`` We've always been concerned about the land and wildlife because we have much to lose,''said delegates Pokiak. `` If not for polar bears and other wildlife, we would not exist today.''

 The great white polar bear, the largest land carnivore _''for `` Nanuq inuit_ may be particularly susceptible to climate change and global warming rapidly reduced their habitat, Arctic sea.

Many bears spend their lives on the ice. But the Arctic summers could be almost totally deprived of ice in 30 years, predicted in April the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.