The Arctic is a place of immense biodiversity. Sadly, many of its species are vulnerable to extinction. Let’s help.
This NATIONAL THREATENED SPECIES DAY, we are traveling to the Arctic to learn more about its incredible, albeit at risk, species.
Despite its seemingly stark expanse, the Arctic is a place of rich biodiversity, home to more than 21,000 known species and sustaining over 4 million human inhabitants.
Unfortunately, due to climate change, the Arctic is warming at an alarming rate — three times faster than the global average. In the past 30 years, the thickest Arctic ice shrank by 95%. If emissions aren’t reduced, all arctic ice could be gone by 2040. This poses a severe risk for arctic wildlife, including recognizable species, such as polar bears (whose population may decrease by 66% over the next 50 years due to sea ice loss) and beluga whales (whose population has declined by 80% since 1970), as well as those not so well known, like the elusive narwhal.
