Ejercicio Grupo A - 1 · Inglés PAU Canarias Julio 2024

GRUPO A

Is it time to rethink the polar bear as a symbol of the climate crisis?

Alone in the Arctic and surrounded by disappearing sea ice, the polar bear’s dramatic image has become

a symbol of the climate crisis. Few stories of the climate crisis are better known than the unfortunate

situation of the polar bear.

These marine mammals are heavily dependent on sea ice for hunting, and scientists affirm they will

5 become extinct across much of the region as the Arctic heats. Some scientists warn that many

subpopulations could disappear entirely this century. In fact, long-term declines have already been

recorded in three of the 19 polar bear subpopulations found across the Arctic.

The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is the Earth’s most rapidly warming part, where temperatures

have risen 4ºC on average in the past 50 years and a massive amount of sea ice has disappeared, raising

10 fears for the survival of 300 bears. Despite this significant change in conditions, the polar bear population

on Svalbard has not experienced a decline yet. “Biology and ecology are very complicated. I have to say

that I’m a bit surprised that polar bears do so well in Svalbard because the changes have been so big. They

have three to four months less sea ice now than three decades ago on average,” says Professor Jon Aars,

the scientist in charge of the polar bear program at the Norwegian Polar Institute.

15 On the other hand, Prof. Andrew Derocher, a polar bear expert at the Canadian University of Alberta,

claims that there are areas of polar bear distribution that are going to be quite robust to the effects of climate

change. Although he is pessimistic about the future for many subpopulations, including the bears in

Svalbard, he says we cannot talk about a global state of the polar bears.

That is why some researchers claim that this accidental icon of the climate crisis is unhelpful and not

20 universally true so far, and that can obstruct conservation efforts by driving mistrust among some

Indigenous communities in the Arctic. For example, in the Canadian context, the polar bears, as an icon

of climate change, have caused many problems. “We used to have a good relationship with Inuit hunters.

A lot of the hunters that I know think that these mammals will do OK with climate change, and that has

created some tensions,” Prof. Derocher complains.

25 Many groups of the world’s 26,000 wild polar bears could disappear entirely this century. However, Prof.

Derocher asserts that as there are 19 polar bear populations across the Arctic, 19 different scenarios are

playing out over time. “I think our best analysis is that not all polar bears are going extinct this century,”

he explains.

Fragment adapted from The Guardian, August 2023

1. Say whether the following sentences are TRUE or FALSE according to the text. COPY the evidence from the text. No marks will be given without the evidence. (1.5 points)

a)

Sea ice is not crucial for the polar bear to find food.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

The disagreement over the situation of the polar bear has not caused any problems between local hunters and scientists.

TRUE

FALSE

c)

According to Prof. Derocher, there are as many potential situations for polar bears as there are populations.

TRUE

FALSE