Polar Bears International (PBI) is a non-profit organization that works to protect polar bears. It is based in the United States and Canada and uses science to guide its efforts. PBI focuses on research, education, and advocacy to solve problems that threaten polar bears. While Churchill, Canada, is a key location for its scientists and teachers, PBI’s work includes the Arctic regions of Svalbard (Norway), Russia, Alaska (U.S.), and other parts of Canada.
PBI is known for its research, which helps guide conservation efforts. Its team includes scientists who study polar bears and climate change. Steven Amstrup, a former chief scientist, won the 2012 Indianapolis Prize, often called the Nobel Prize of animal conservation. Before joining PBI in 2010, Amstrup led a team at the U.S. Geological Survey that produced reports leading to the polar bear’s listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
To raise awareness and encourage action, PBI offers education and outreach programs. It also hosts events such as International Polar Bear Day (February 27), Arctic Sea Ice Day (July 15), and Polar Bear Week (the first week of November). These events emphasize the need to protect polar bears and the Arctic ecosystem.
PBI was founded in 1992 by a group of wildlife enthusiasts who visited Churchill, Canada, each year to observe and photograph polar bears. Since 2013, Krista Wright has led the organization.
Conservation Challenges
Polar bears are marine mammals adapted to live on the frozen ocean. They hunt seals on the top of the sea ice and depend on the ice for traveling, hunting, breeding, and sometimes making dens.
As climate change increases global temperatures, Arctic sea ice has been melting at a rate of 12.2% each decade. This melting reduces polar bears’ access to their main food source, seals, and harms their survival. Scientists think that if we don’t stop climate change, most polar bears could disappear by the year 2100.
Some polar bear populations in areas with longer ice-free seasons have already decreased. For example, the Western Hudson Bay population is now about half as large as it was in the 1980s, and the Southern Beaufort Sea population has dropped by about 40%. Other threats include hunting that isn’t properly controlled, disturbances from people, especially during the denning period, conflicts with humans, and pollution. Polar Bears International works to help with both the immediate and future problems polar bears face.
Activities
Polar Bears International (PBI) conducts and supports research to learn more about polar bears and help protect them. This work includes studying polar bear mothers and their cubs at den sites, understanding how polar bears use energy, and creating new tools like "burr on fur" tracking tags and "bear-dar" radar systems that help communities detect nearby bears. Scientists at PBI also study climate change. For example, a 2020 study published in Nature Climate Change examined when polar bear populations might disappear under different climate scenarios. Another study from 2023, published in Science, addressed a rule in the Endangered Species Act that allows scientists to consider how greenhouse gas emissions from projects could affect polar bears. A 2024 study in Nature Communications found that polar bears near Churchill, Canada, could decline rapidly if countries fail to meet climate goals set in the Paris Agreement. In 2025, a study in Nature Communications explored how Indigenous people in Churchill view polar bears.
PBI’s education and outreach efforts take place in Churchill, Canada, where hundreds of polar bears gather each fall. Visitors can learn about polar bears at the Polar Bears International House, and PBI provides free live webcasts called “Tundra Connections” from the tundra near Churchill during polar bear season. These webcasts are broadcast from a vehicle called Tundra Buggy One, which also hosts media outlets like Good Morning America and the BBC. PBI partners with explore.org to offer live video feeds of polar bears, beluga whales, and the Northern Lights, which are viewed by millions annually. In 2014, PBI added polar bear habitats in Churchill to Google Maps. In 2023, a PBI scientist gave a TED Talk about efforts to help people and polar bears live safely together.
PBI works with about 50 zoos and aquariums in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, called Arctic Ambassador Centers, to raise awareness about polar bears, sea ice loss, and climate change. These centers help educate the public and provide training for zoo and aquarium staff, including trips to Churchill to experience polar bears and the tundra. PBI also has a pop-up center, the PBI Ice House, in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway, to reach Arctic cruise passengers. This center is the northernmost interpretive center in the world. PBI collaborates with Arctic guides to share science-based information about polar bears and the threats they face.
As Arctic sea ice decreases, polar bears spend more time on land, increasing the chance of conflicts with people. PBI helps communities and polar bears coexist safely. This includes researching polar bear attacks, testing non-lethal ways to deter bears (like bear spray), studying waste management solutions, and creating educational materials such as brochures and videos. PBI also helps communities develop plans to live safely with polar bears, such as supporting Churchill’s efforts to become a polar-bear-safe community, helping Cree communities in Ontario manage growing bear populations, and working with communities in Svalbard, Norway, on safety measures.
PBI is testing a technology called “bear-dar,” which uses radar and artificial intelligence to detect polar bears and warn people. Researchers tested this system in Churchill and refined it at the Assinibone Park Zoo. Further tests are now being conducted at the Eureka weather station in Nunavut, where polar bear sightings have increased.
PBI influences policy by sharing scientific findings with governments and organizations. Two PBI scientists are members of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group, which includes experts from around the world. PBI’s policy experts also work with the Polar Bear Range States, a group that manages polar bear populations in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and the U.S. They participate in groups focused on climate communication and human-polar bear conflicts.
PBI’s scientists provide expert opinions on policies affecting polar bears, such as testifying before the U.S. Congress about the risks of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a key polar bear denning area. PBI also encourages public action through campaigns like “Vote for Polar Bears,” which supports candidates who prioritize climate change solutions.
Controversies and disputes
Polar Bears International (PBI) has been criticized by some conservation groups for not supporting plans to move polar bears (Ursus maritimus) to a higher category in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This change would have banned international trade in polar bear skins and other body parts.
At CITES meetings in 2010 and 2013, the United States and Russia proposed moving polar bears to a stricter category. PBI opposed these proposals, stating that scientific reasons for the change were not met and that trade restrictions would not solve the main threat to polar bears, which PBI says is climate change. Old statements from PBI said, "PBI believes moving polar bears to a stricter category is not needed at this time."
During the 2013 talks, some environmental groups, including PBI and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), did not support the U.S. plan to ban trade in polar bear parts. Critics argued that opposing the stricter listing allowed trade in polar bear skins to continue. Supporters of PBI said trade rules would have little effect on protecting polar bears compared to addressing climate change.
Since polar bears remain in a less strict category, trade in their parts is still allowed under a system of permits and limits managed by national governments. Records show that the skins of at least 1,760 polar bears entered international trade between 2013 and 2024.
Some groups, including WWF, have shared similar views with PBI on polar bear trade and management. Conservation scientist Geoff York, who worked for WWF and later joined PBI, has been cited as an example of shared ideas between the groups.
PBI also runs fundraising efforts, such as "Adopt-a-Polar-Bear" campaigns, to support polar bear conservation. Some critics say this creates a contradiction because PBI opposes stricter trade rules while promoting conservation efforts. PBI says its focus is on solving climate change, which it sees as the main threat to polar bears.
Other groups, like the Natural Resources Defense Council, supported moving polar bears to a stricter category, arguing that reducing trade could help reduce hunting.
PBI has said that regulated hunting may be compatible with conservation in some areas, such as parts of Canada where Indigenous communities are given a set number of permits to hunt polar bears. These permits can sometimes be sold to visiting sport hunters. These hunts allow foreign hunters to join guided trips where they may shoot a polar bear under the authority of a locally issued permit.
Scientists linked to PBI, including chief scientist Steven Amstrup, have said that trade or hunting restrictions would not solve the main threat to polar bears, which is climate change. They argue that some populations could still be hunted under current wildlife management systems.
PBI has stated that in areas where hunting is allowed, Indigenous communities are given a set number of permits to hunt bears within limits that protect the population. In some parts of Canada, local hunters may sell these permits to sport hunters, who join guided trips and are allowed to shoot the bear that the local hunter might have taken. PBI says these hunts often result in fewer bears being taken because sport hunters are usually less successful than local hunters. However, some companies that offer these hunts claim success rates of nearly 100%. The income from these hunts can help support local economies in northern areas where jobs are limited.
The role of trophy hunting in polar bear conservation is debated. Critics say the market for hunting trophies and skins can encourage more hunting, while supporters argue that regulated hunting can provide income for northern communities if managed properly.
Discussions about trophy hunting also relate to trade restrictions. Moving polar bears to a stricter CITES category would not have banned hunting but would have stopped international trade and limited the import of hunting trophies into many countries. For example, in the European Union, a stricter listing would have prevented the import of trophies into all 27 member states.
A similar effect was seen in the United States after polar bears were listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act in 2008. This led to a ban on importing trophies under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Research showed that while hunting limits in Nunavut stayed the same, fewer American hunters participated in guided trips once trophies could no longer be imported into the U.S., reducing the number of bears taken by sport hunters.
Trophy hunting often targets large, strong male polar bears, with studies showing over 90% of hunted bears are large males. This has raised concerns because large males play an important role in reproduction.
Because trophy hunting depends on exporting trophies, trade restrictions have been shown to reduce participation in hunting trips. This suggests that broader trade bans could also lower demand from international hunters.