What We Accomplished For Polar Bears in 2024

Denning is the most vulnerable time in a polar bear's life. Thanks to your support in 2024, we conducted the eighth year of our polar bear den study in Svalbard, Norway, where we deployed remote cameras at five known den sites on snowy mountain slopes. The long-term study is providing valuable insights into the needs and vulnerabilities of mums and cubs. Keeping people and polar bears safe is increasingly important as melting sea ice is forcing more polar bears ashore and keeping them on shore for longer periods in some parts of the Arctic. Because of you, we've worked with six frontline communities in two countries on bear safe initiatives. We also hosted a community exchange that brought together delegates from three regions to share information, knowledge, and experience on coexistence. Your generosity allowed us to reach hundreds of thousands of people with information on polar bears, the threatened Arctic ecosystem, and the urgent need to take action on climate change. This outreach ranged from our top-ranked website to our Tundra Connections webcasts. We also engaged with visitors at our two interpretive centers in Svalbard and Churchill. You made it possible for our staff scientists to publish five peer-reviewed papers this year that inform polar bear conservation. From ringing alarm bells on the future for Hudson Bay bears if nations fail to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, to genetics research that provides insights into which polar bear populations are most at risk in a warming Arctic. Your support enabled us to take part in two key meetings this year where we shared findings and helped set conservation priorities. The first was a meeting of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group composed of science from all five range states. The second was attending the International Bear Association Conference where we not only attended but presented our science. We also shared five accreditation badges with young leaders to the COP 29 Climate Summit this year and supported the attendance of a young Inuit leader from the Inuit Circumpolar Council. Your generosity helped support three tech research projects this year. These included finalizing field research on the use of BearDAR to detect approaching bears and working with partners to fine-tune the AI on our polar bear den cams. We also published a paper on our Burr-on-fur tracking tags, a valuable new tool for monitoring adult males and young polar bears, two little studied groups. This year we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our Arctic Ambassador Center Network composed of 49 zoos and aquariums and wildlife parks across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. And thanks to your support, 16 staff from these organizations participated in our annual Climate Alliance Program, learning how to effectively communicate about polar bears and climate change. Because of you, we were able to create five civic engagement videos that provide a road map for climate action and they cover everything from voting with the climate in mind to getting involved in community projects. We also were able to create a web-based toolkit for climate action and four talk about climate change videos and these cover how to have these really important conversations and connect over our shared values.