Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Author of 'Best Things First', 'False Alarm', and 'Skeptical Environmentalist', President Copenhagen Consensus: smart solutions through economic prioritization

Nov 27, 2022, 16 tweets

Polar bear population increasing

But doesn't fit climate narrative, so info cancelled

Reality:

Polar bears were intensely hunted

1976 world banned much hunting

Polar bear population recovered and now at its highest in 6 decades

🧵 + refs below

Polar bear numbers never higher

at 26,000 (22-31K), high and low estimates have never been higher

This is with the 'official data' from 2021, from IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and PBSG (Polar Bear Specialist Group), p5

iucn-pbsg.org/wp-content/upl…

Polar bear population increasing, 1981-2021

The IUCN+PBSG have made more estimates in the past. Surely they should also be included

For the 1981 meeting, the "status of polar bear populations by country" were estimated between 18,505 and 27,106, p39-41

portals.iucn.org/library/sites/…

Polar bear population increasing over past 60 years

"The First International Scientific Meeting on the Polar Bear" in 1965 highlights three population estimates (p11):

17-19K
5-8K
10K+

Highest estimate in 1960s still smaller than lowest estimate today

books.google.com/?id=oCEXAQAAIA…

Polar bear population is at its highest in six decades

1993-today: iucn-pbsg.org/wp-content/upl…
1981: portals.iucn.org/library/sites/…
1960s: books.google.com/?id=oCEXAQAAIA…

Polar bear population now at highest

Doesn't fit climate narrative, so must be canceled

Purported "fact-checks" cite scientists saying "there were no population estimates anywhere in 1960s, 1970s"

1965: three academic estimates



logically.ai/factchecks/lib…

Polar bear population now at highest

Doesn't fit climate narrative, so must be canceled

Purported "fact-checks" cite scientists saying "there were no population estimates anywhere in 1960s, 1970s"

1970: several IUCN estimates



factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.9X…

Polar bear population now at its highest

But this doesn't fit the climate narrative, so must be canceled

Purported "fact-checks" allow campaigners to claim "no population estimates anywhere in 1960s, 1970s"

Just silly — there were 𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘀 of estimates

all smaller than today

In 1960s, huge concern for indiscriminate killing of polar bears

Since ratification in 1976 of Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, kills have dropped from 1100+ to ~700 per year

That means more polar bears

researchgate.net/publication/28…
frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

Polar bear population has increased over past 6 decades

While campaign scientists refute this for politically biased 'fact-checks' they quietly accept this when speaking to political friends, like CNN science:

'agree polar bear pop increased'

perma.cc/VYK2-E4VD

Polar bear population has increased since 1960s

But politically motivated 'fact-checkers' and scientists don't want you to know, because it doesn't fit the climate narrative

Such politicization of facts leaves everyone worse off

iucn-pbsg.org/wp-content/upl…
books.google.com/?id=oCEXAQAAIA…

Global warming is a real and manmade problem, and one that we should tackle smartly

But facts are crucial to understand the size of the challenge and the costs and benefits of our actions

You can read more about all three in my peer-reviewed paper sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Recognizing facts also means we can make better policies

If we're truly worried about polar bears

Why do most people argue we should cut CO₂, which at best will help a little in 100 years?

We kill 700+ polar bears every year

— maybe first stop shooting 700+ polar bears?

How many shot in self-defense?

In Greenland, 63 kills in self-defense, 2007-16

Total quotas (approx filled) 2007-16 is 1,359

So just under 5%

These are unavoidable, we can only avoid 95% of all kills

nord.news/2021/10/21/79-…

stat.gl/dialog/main.as…
naalakkersuisut.gl/-/media/naalak…

My peer-reviewed article is apparently again behind pay-wall

It shouldn't be

You can access it here: researchgate.net/publication/34…

or here: lomborg.com/sites/lomborg.…

And predictably, the 'fact-checkers' are again telling Facebook and others to stamp out the data and enforce the climate narrative

archive.md/5QU2L
wsj.com/articles/parti…

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