500 000 miles of housing critical - Polar bear in Alaska has more space

Washington - The United States designated this Wednesday, an area of about 500 000 square kilometers in northern Alaska, protected habitat for polar bears.
According to the U.S. Office of Fisheries and Wildlife, any project that may impact on the livelihood of polar bears in the area of 484 thousand square kilometers (slightly smaller than the size of France) should be subject to scrutiny. They say  "the designation identifies geographic areas that are considered essential elements for the conservation of the polar bear, which require special protection" and allow "working with our federal partners to ensure that their activities do not harm the populations of polar bears. "

Now, conservationists, hope that this designation becomes more difficult the oil companies get licenses to operate in the region. According to the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS), the Arctic holds 90 billion barrels of oil and huge gas reserves.

The gradual disappearance of sea ice caused by climate change is the greatest threat to the survival of polar bear, and the oil exploration, tourism and other navigational factors contributing to this threat. Fewer cubs survive, making it difficult to maintain the species. The U.S. government added the polar bear on the protected species list May 15, 2008.

 

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Signs of recovery - Ozone hole is smaller

Wellington - The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica reached a maximum area of 22 million m2 this year, two million fewer than in 2009.
Last year the ozone hole was 24 million m2 according to researchers from Niwa, New Zealand's National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research, based in Auckland.



Every year we watch the changes in the size of the ozone hole, caused by differences in temperature and atmospheric circulation, but since five years ago that the hole in the ozone layer was not so reduced. In 2000, the year that the ozone hole recorded its highest value, there was, for this year, a decrease of seven million m2.



"We can say that it is improving, according to the results of this year," assured Stephen Wood, New Zealand Institute of Atmospheric researcher. "This is a sign that there is a recovery," the researcher added.



The calculations made by scientists from Niwa suggest that reduced the size of the ozone hole is mainly due to ban the use of products containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used in refrigerators and aerosols.

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